UN extends Haiti mission by one year as it seeks more funding
By Mary Wambui |
The United Nations Security Council has extended the Haiti Multinational Security Support Mission to October 2, 2025.
The one-year extension follows calls for increased action to tame armed gangs wreaking havoc in the Caribbean nation, even as states mull over its transition into a UN mission to enable the intervening force to secure adequate funding to meet its mandate.
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"This transformation would make it possible to secure more stable funding and expand the mission's capabilities, but also to strengthen the commitment of UN member states to security in Haiti," Mr Edgar Leblanc Fils, head of the Presidential Council of the Transition of Haiti said in his address to the UN General Assembly.
Haiti is currently in a security crisis characterised by increased armed gangs, general violence and political instability that is affecting everyday life and activities of innocent civilians.
The UN Security Council has also expressed the intention to consider a UN Peace Operation.
Kenya, the leading country in the mission, has pledged to send 600 of its national police officers to Haiti in the coming weeks after they have completed their pre-deployment training.
President William Ruto, however, supported calls for turning the mission into a UN peacekeeping operation.
"On the suggestion to transit this into a fully UN peacekeeping mission, we have absolutely no problem with it if that is the direction the UN Security Council wants to take," President Ruto said when he visited the Kenyan troops in Port-au-Prince.
The MSS mission was poised to comprise a 2500-member force, but only Kenya had deployed within its first year of mandate.
The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad have pledged troops but it is not clear when that will happen.
Jamaica has sent a lean team of 20 against its earlier pledge of 200, with the country noting that it wasn't possible to deploy all of them at once.
The Jamaicans will be responsible for providing command, planning and logistics support.
With less than a quarter of its needed force, questions about its capabilities coupled with a technical and financing dilemma are some of the challenges that have prevented the mission from achieving the desired goal of the locals of returning Haiti to normalcy.
Despite this, Kenya has assured that it will do its best to help Haiti.
"The National Police Service reaffirms its commitment to international law enforcement, working closely with the people of Haiti, and partners supporting the MSS to ensure peace and security in Haiti," NPS said on Saturday.
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