UN Security Council approves new military force to battle Haiti’s gangs
The security force can deploy up to 5,500 uniformed personnel, five times the size of the current law enforcement mission
The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution to transform a UN-backed security mission in gang-dominated Haiti into a larger, full-fledged force with military troops.
The new force can now have a maximum of 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and soldiers, unlike the current mission, which is just law enforcement.
US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the vote by 12 council members “to transform the Multinational Security Support mission to the new gang suppression force, a mission five times the size of its predecessor” showed the “international community was sharing the burden”.
“This resolution offers Haiti hope. It is a hope that has been rapidly slipping away as terrorist gangs expanded their territory, raped, pillaged, murdered and terrorised the Haitian population,” he said.
Washington co-sponsored the enlargement push with Panama.