UN chief warns gangs could overrun Haiti's capital without additional
international security support
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 [January 23, 2025]
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Gangs in Haiti could overrun the capital,
Port-au-Prince, leading to a complete breakdown of government authority
without additional international support for the beleaguered national
police, the United Nations chief warned.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report released to coincide
with a Security Council meeting Wednesday on the deteriorating situation
in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country that “time is of the
essence.”
Further delays in providing the police with additional officers for the
multinational force trying to curb gang violence or additional
assistance “carry the risk of a catastrophic collapse of national
security institutions,” he said.
“This could allow the gangs to overrun the entire metropolitan area,
resulting in a complete breakdown of state authority and rendering
international operations, including those to support communities in
need, in the country untenable,” Guterres said.
He told the Security Council: “We must urgently do everything in our
power to prevent such an outcome.”
Kenya is leading the multinational police force, and 217 additional
officers arrived over the weekend, bringing its total deployment to more
than 600, below the 1,000 officers the country's president pledged. An
additional 150 Guatemalans and an advance team of eight Salvadorean
troops have also arrived, but the force remains far below its
anticipated strength of 2,500 officers.
The power of gangs in Haiti has grown since the 2021 assassination of
President Jovenel Moïse.
More than 5,600 people were reported killed across Haiti last year,
according to the United Nations. The number of killings increased by
more than 20% compared with all of 2023, according to the U.N. Human
Rights Office.
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Maria Isabel Salvador, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, told the
Security Council gang violence has forced more than 1 million
Haitians to flee their homes, with many crowding into makeshift and
unsanitary shelters after gunmen razed their homes.
The humanitarian crisis in Haiti has reached “alarming levels,” she
said, with nearly 2 million people facing emergency levels of food
insecurity and 6,000 in catastrophic conditions facing starvation.
Haiti’s leaders have asked for a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace
the multinational force, and the permanent council of the
Organization of American States, the United States and dozens of
other nations have supported the request. The multinational force is
funded by a trust fund, which has only $101.1 million in pledges,
while a U.N. force would be funded from the U.N. peacekeeping
budget.
Guterres is preparing options for the U.N.'s future role in Haiti.
Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Harvel Jean Baptiste told the
council that a U.N. peacekeeping mission was crucial. Echoing
Guterres, he said gang violence, massacres and kidnappings pose “an
existential threat” to the safety and security of Haitians — and
threaten “the very survival of our state.”
Guterres said he is “appalled at the brutality and scale of the
violence” committed by the gangs, citing reports of sexual violence,
including collective rape and recruitment of children.
“Setbacks in the political process have contributed to a climate in
which these atrocities have become possible,” he said.
Guterres said the transition roadmap that began after Moise’s
assassination “has been worryingly slow.”
“Simply put, the goal of restoring democratic institutions by
February 2026 is in jeopardy,” the U.N. chief said.
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