US changes tact on Haiti peacekeeping operation

30/9/2024 6:04

        The United States
        has dropped a push for the U.N. Security Council to ask for a
        plan to transform a security mission helping fight armed gangs
        in Haiti into a formal U.N. peacekeeping operation, a move some
        diplomats said was made to appease Russia and China.
        
        A senior U.S. administration official, however, pushed back
        against that assessment, saying Washington changed its strategy
        to support a call last week by the head of Haiti's transition
        council, Edgard Leblanc, for a U.N. peacekeeping mission.
        
        "It is not at all that we are bowing to those who might
        not have the best interests of the Haitian people at heart,"
        said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are
        being strategic about how we're going about this and building on
        the shot of momentum that we heard from the Haitian president."
        
        The 15-member Security Council will vote on Monday on a
        draft resolution to extend the mandate for the Multinational
        Security Support (MSS) mission until Oct. 2, 2025. The U.N.
        first approved the mission a year ago after the Caribbean
        country asked for assistance.
        
        Diplomats say Russia and China did not want the council to
        ask for a plan to transition the U.N.-backed security force to a
        formal U.N. peacekeeping operation, so the U.S. removed that
        language from the draft resolution, seen by Reuters.
        
        Russia wants to allow more time for the security force to
        establish itself, Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry
        Polyanskiy said on Sunday, adding: "We don't want to prejudge
        MSS's outcome. Too early to make conclusions."
        
        
        
        'FULL SUCCESS'
        
        Haitian leaders speaking at the United Nations General
        Assembly last week warned of
        
        worsening insecurity
        
        in the country despite the partial deployment of the
        security force.
        
        Powerful gangs, armed with weapons largely trafficked
        from the United States, have united in the capital under a
        common alliance and now control most of the city and are
        expanding to nearby areas.
        
        Leblanc told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday: "I am
        convinced that this change of status, whilst recognizing that
        the errors of the past cannot be repeated, would guarantee the
        full success of the mission in Haiti."
        
        The senior U.S. official said Washington would "work
        with partners over the coming weeks to support that call." U.S.
        Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue of
        transforming the security force into a U.N. peacekeeping
        operation during a visit to Haiti earlier this month.
        
        Many Haitians are wary of an armed U.N. presence after
        previous missions left behind a devastating cholera epidemic and
        sex abuse scandals.
        
        The current Kenyan-led international security mission, while
        authorized by the U.N. Security Council, is not a United Nations
        operation. Countries voluntarily provide money and personnel.
        
        The mission has made little progress toward helping Haiti
        restore order with only 400 Kenyan police officers on the ground
        so far and a shortfall in funding.
        
        U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this
        month that establishing a U.N. peacekeeping force would not be
        the best solution for Haiti, which faces a humanitarian crisis
        with mass displacements, sexual violence and widespread hunger.
        
        Gang violence has displaced more than 700,000 people in
        Haiti, according to U.N. estimates.