UN Security Council to vote on future of Haiti force

The United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on the "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question" at UN headquarters in New York on September 23, 2025. [AFP] The United Nations Security Council will vote on Tuesday on whether to beef up a UN-backed security mission in gang-dominated Haiti into a full-fledged force with troops. Currently just 1,000 police officers, mostly from Kenya, are deployed in Haiti under the Multinational Security Mission (MSS) to support the overwhelmed Haitian police in their fight against rampant gang violence. But the mission, which was approved in 2023, has had deeply mixed results. "Every day, innocent lives are snuffed out by bullets, fire and fear," Laurent Saint-Cyr, who heads the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council, told the UN's signature diplomatic gathering last week. "Entire neighborhoods are disappearing, forcing more than a million people into internal exile and reducing to nothing memories, investments, and infrastructure. "This is the face of Haiti today, a country at war, a contemporary Guernica, a human tragedy on America's doorstep -- just a four-hour flight from here," he said. Saint-Cyr has thrown his support behind the US and Panamanian proposal to evolve the MSS into a more resilient force for an initial period of one year. The new force could comprise a maximum of 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and military troops, unlike the MSS, which is just law enforcement. Kenya's president William Ruto said last week that "with the right personnel, adequate resources, appropriate equipment and necessary logistics, Haiti's security can be restored." The boost would be accompanied by the creation of a support office within the UN, suggested several months ago by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to provide the required logistical and financial support. 'Target gangs' US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said last week: "This mandate would empower the force to proactively target gangs and restore security to Haiti while ensuring it has the appropriate tools to succeed the mission's anticipated objectives." "Unfortunately, adopting this resolution is not a given. Despite the majority support of the Security Council, some might try to prevent its adoption or slow down our response to Haiti," Landau said. China had already expressed skepticism about the role of the MSS without political transition in Haiti, but it abstained during the vote, as did Russia. According to diplomatic sources, it is unclear what positions the two countries, which hold veto power, will take during Tuesday's vote. The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has long suffered at the hands of violent criminal gangs that commit murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings against a backdrop of chronic political instability. The situation has worsened significantly since early 2024, when gangs drove then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign. The country, which has not held elections since 2016, has since been led by a Transitional Presidential Council.

UN Security Council to vote on future of Haiti force

Get Full Access for Ksh299/Week.

Related Topics

Similar Articles

Latest Stories

The Standard Insider

Digger Classified

GET OUR NEWSLETTER

CONNECT WITH US

FOR THE LATEST JOB ADVERTS

Similar Articles

Ketraco gets nod to reappoint board after petition struck out

Kenya targets 240,000 youth jobs in fisheries sector expansion

Kenya's insurance industry faces its claims moment

Co-op Bank posts Sh29.75b profit, proposes a record Sh14.67 billion dividend

DIGGER JOBS

Digger Motors

Digger Real Estate

UN Security Council to vote on future of Haiti force

Get Full Access for Ksh299/Week.

Related Topics

Similar Articles

Latest Stories

The Standard Insider

Digger Classified

GET OUR NEWSLETTER

CONNECT WITH US

FOR THE LATEST JOB ADVERTS