The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, excluded the transition from the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) to Haiti into a United Nations peacekeeping force for the moment, and rather recommends creating a United Nations support mission to support the MSS which will be funded by the United Nations peacekeeping budget.
“Such a transition could be envisaged, once significant progress has been made by considerably reducing territorial control of gangs,” Guterres said about the United Nations soldiers, in a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday and obtained by VOA.
“”A realistic option is based on a double -track strategy, the United Nations assuming new roles to allow the MSS, the national police and the Haitian authorities, to considerably reduce the territorial control of the gangs thanks to the application of peace, “said the UN chief.” This would require a robust mandate for the use of strength and capacities to carry out targeted operations against gangs. “”
Guterres sent his recommendation to the Security Council on Tuesday following a request from its members to offer a range of United Nations options. The MSS is not a mission of the United Nations, but it has an authorization from the Security Council and the UN oversees its financial trust fund.
He suggests establishing a United Nations support office for the MSS in order to provide logistical and operational support. He would be paid by the United Nations peacekeeping budget – which gives him reliable funding.
The secretary general said that the mission needs more solid intelligence capacities and more equipment, and that it should be strengthened with specialized police units to protect critical infrastructure, including sea ports, airports, oil terminals and main roads.
The island nation has been prey to the violence and the instability of the gangs since 2021, when President Jonenel Moise has been murdered. The national police are in the form of staff and poorly equipped and could not stop the gangs, which terrorize the population, especially in the capital, Port-au-Prince. A transitional government is now in place in order to organize credible elections, but it has been faced with internal and external challenges.
At the end of last year, the United States and the member of the Ecuador, who were co-leaders in Haiti, called on the MSS to become a United Nations peacekeeping operation. But not all members agree. China and Russia have expressed reservations about sending peacekeepers to Haiti when there is a lack of peace to keep.
Haiti’s past experiences with United Nations peacekeeping missions ended badly, and it was originally estimated that a mission was not a better idea. But a lack of financing, equipment and logistics brought the government in difficulty of Haiti to the idea of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, which would benefit from sustainable funding and access to more resources.
The MSS started to deploy in June and is mandated until October 2, 2025. Guterres said that he recently reached the level of 1,000 people. They come from Bahamas, Belize, Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and Kenya, who directs the mission. But 1,000 is less than half of the 2,500 staff members planned for the mission.
Funding was a problem from the start. Guterres said that the mission trustee fund had $ 110.8 million in voluntary contributions from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Turkey and the United States, of which $ 48 million has not been allocated and much more.
“The MSS slowly assumes the form of a real multinational effort to support Haiti,” wrote Guterres. “We all have to support him as an immediate and credible effort to help the national police of Haiti repel the armed gangs, to prevent their territorial expansion and to protect the inhabitants of Haiti.”
He added that when the MSS is fully deployed and properly owed resources, “represents the most viable solution to achieve the medium -term objective of reducing territorial gang control”.
