By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on Monday to approve the deployment of foreign police to Haiti and authorize the use of force to help the Caribbean country fight violent gangs that have largely overrun the capital Port-au-Prince.
Haiti asked nearly a year ago for international help and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the 15-member council last month that a “robust use of force” by a multinational police deployment and the use of military assets was needed to restore law and order in Haiti and disarm gangs.
It was not immediately clear how China and Russia – which are veto powers along with the United States, France and Britain – would vote on the U.S.-drafted resolution. Diplomats said they are wary of authorizing the blanket use of force and want to expand a targeted U.N. arms embargo to include all gangs.
Haitian officials have said the country does not manufacture weapons, and guns used by gangs are believed to be mostly imported from the United States. The U.S. ATF firearms bureau has found that four in five crime guns recovered and traced across the Caribbean originate from the United States.
China has put forward amendments, seen by Reuters, that include imposing an arms embargo on “all non-State actors in Haiti” and stating that U.N. authorization would only apply to countries after Haiti notifies the Security Council – in writing – of their participation in the security mission.
A Security Council resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes to be adopted.
The response to Haiti’s request for help was delayed due to a struggle to find a country willing to lead a security assistance mission. Kenya stepped forward in July with a pledge of 1,000 police. The Bahamas then committed 150 people, while Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda are also willing to help.
Guterres has urged countries, particularly in the Americas, “to continue to build on this new momentum.”
Countries have been cautious of supporting the unelected administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has said fair elections cannot be held with the current insecurity. Haiti has been without any elected representatives since January.
The security assistance mission, while approved by the U.N. Security Council, would not be a United Nations operation.
U.N. peacekeepers were deployed to Haiti in 2004 after a rebellion led to the ouster and exile of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Peacekeeping troops left in 2017 and were replaced by U.N. police, who left in 2019.
Haitians are wary of an armed U.N. presence. The Caribbean country was free of cholera until 2010, when U.N. peacekeepers dumped infected sewage into a river. More than 9,000 people died of the disease, and some 800,000 fell ill.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Richard Chang)
