Gangs could overrun Haiti capital if aid falls short, UN chief warns

Haiti has suffered from decades of instability.

Haiti's capital could become overrun by criminal gangs if the international community does not step up aid to a UN-backed security mission there, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned in a report Wednesday.

More money, equipment and personnel are needed for the Kenya-led international force, Guterres said, adding that any further delays risk the "catastrophic" collapse of Haiti's security institutions and "could allow gangs to overrun the entire metropolitan area" of Port-au-Prince.

The UN secretary-general lamented that the mission is "still not deployed to full strength," limiting its capacity to support the Haitian national police.

Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council, said that the country faced "major difficulties" that threaten not just the population but also "the very survival of the state."

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The Security Council gave the green light in October 2023 to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission designed to support Haiti's authorities in their fight against gang violence.

But since then, just under 800 of the 2,500 police officers hoped for have been deployed.

More than 5,601 people in Haiti were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence, about a thousand more than in 2023, the UN said.

In the report, Guterres said setbacks in Haiti's political process have "contributed to a climate in which these atrocities have become possible."


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