UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations special representative to Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, Monday warned that Haiti is facing the “point of no return” as gang violence escalates and the country struggles to respond.
United Nations special representative to Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, listens as Haitian delegate addresses UN Secretary CouncilAddressing the UN Security Council, Salvador said that international aid was urgently needed to prevent further collapse and “total chaos.
“As gang violence continues to spread to new areas of the country, Haitians experience growing levels of vulnerability and increasing skepticism about the ability of the state to respond to their needs.
“Haiti could face total chaos,” she said, adding that international aid was desperately needed to avoid that fate.
“I urge you to remain engaged and answer the urgent needs of the country and its people”.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that as of mid-January, over one million Haitians were internally displaced, and nearly 60,000 more have been forced from their homes in the last month alone.
The United Nations (UN) Security Council in 2023 passed a resolution for the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission to assist the Haitian government in its efforts to bring peace and stability to the country in the face of armed criminal gangs.
But the MSS has so far failed to push back the gangs. The mission has around 1,000 police officers from six countries but was intended to have 2,500.
Three soldiers with the Haitian Armed Forces (FAd’H) were killed in an ambush by gang members in Kenscoff during the last weekend, bringing the number of officers killed by gangs in April to at least six.
The government has condemned the killings vowing to reclaim control of territories overtaken by gangs.
“These soldiers are not only members of our armed forces. They are worthy sons of the Nation, defenders of our sovereignty, whose ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten,” the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.
The soldiers were ambushed while responding to a gang attack early Sunday morning in the commune about 15 miles southeast of the capital city, Port-au-Prince.
“The attacks on Kenscoff were extremely brutal, aimed at spreading panic among the population,” said Salvador, adding that “men, women and children were executed inside their homes. Others were killed as they tried to flee”.
Last Friday, the authorities launched at least eight explosive drones against gang hideouts in the commune.
In her address to the Security Council, Salvador cited cholera outbreaks and gender-based violence alongside a deteriorating security situation, particularly in capital Port-au-Prince, with authorities struggling to cope.
France, whose Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont, is chairing the UN Security Council for the month of April, called on the international community to help restore security and stability to Haiti.
“We are convinced that the United Nations can provide strategic and operational expertise as well as logistical support,” he said, noting that the Security Council has taken note of the request by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres for transitioning towards a peacekeeping operation on the Caribbean island.
“”That could happen in the second stage after reducing the gangs from expanding and to …control. Now we need to make headway. We are willing to work with all member states of this Council to find an acceptable solution to …allow us to strengthen international security.
‘France stands alongside the Haitian men and women in doing so by providing humanitarian help and security and providing assistance to people who have been displaced”.
Haiti’s representative to the meeting apologized on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste, who was not present, telling the UN Security Council there had been some progress in Haiti.
He said some state institutions have been functioning and the government has provided billions of Gourdes (One Gourde=US$0.007 cents) to the police and the modernization of the armed forces.
He said at the judicial level initiatives have been taken to counter impunity “and efforts are underway to relaunch the judicial system as well as to restore trust in other institutions.
“The government has also stepped up its humanitarian assistance….These initiatives attest to a clear desire to restore the authority of the state t protect its citizens and to guarantee justice as well as to rebuild the foundations of government”.
He said the government has been collaborating proactively with international governments seeking to enhance accountability mechanisms.
He said notwithstanding these initiatives it is evident “that the results have been far from the goals that have been set,” he said, adding that it is imperative that the initiatives outlined by Guterres and the Presidential Provisional Council (CPT) in Haiti be advanced to deal with the current challenges faced by Haiti.
He said Haiti is prepared to hold discussions with all interested parties aimed at crushing the criminal gangs in the country.
