D-day as UN Security Council vote on future of Kenya-led Haiti mission
However, if any of the five UN Security Council permanent members who also hold veto power vetos the decision against making the poorly resourced Kenyan-police led mission, the push would flop and die a natural death
The United Nations Security Council will today vote on whether to beef up a UN-backed security mission in gang-dominated Haiti into a full-fledged force with troops.
However, if any of the five UN Security Council permanent members who also hold veto power vetos the decision against making the poorly resourced Kenyan-police led mission, the push would flop and die a natural death.
The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America (USA).
According to diplomatic sources, it is unclear what positions the two countries, which hold veto power, will take during today’s vote.
The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has long suffered at the hands of violent criminal gangs that commit murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings against a backdrop of chronic political instability.
The situation has worsened significantly since early 2024, when gangs drove then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.
The country, which has not held elections since 2016, has since been led by a Transitional Presidential Council.
Currently just 1,000 police officers, mostly from Kenya where three gallant soldiers have died so far from the gangs’ bullets, are deployed in Haiti under the Multinational Security Mission (MSS) to support the overwhelmed Haitian police in their fight against rampant gang violence.
But the mission, which was approved in 2023, has had deeply mixed results.
“Every day, innocent lives are snuffed out by bullets, fire and fear,” Laurent Saint-Cyr, who heads the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council, told the UN’s signature diplomatic gathering last week.
Nairobi has since backtracked from earlier assertions that painted a well-resourced Kenyan led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti and cried foul over massive funding gaps and poorly resourced troops force during a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York in which President William Ruto strongly criticised the international community over shortfalls.
Earlier this year, the Kenyan government claimed there is enough money to continue the Haiti mission despite USA pull out adding that the move by the United States to freeze funds to the un-backed mission in Haiti is largely insignificant.
While attending the just ended 80th UNGA session in New York, President Ruto said that pledges made to support the mission have not translated into delivery, leaving the mission operating well below capacity and exposed to serious risks.
President Ruto warned that the gap between promises and delivery has left the Kenyan-led force operating at only 40 per cent capacity describing the inaction as “unacceptable.”
He further cautioned that fragile gains against gang violence risk being reversed unless urgent, decisive measures are taken.
“The situation in Haiti today is indefensible and simply wrong,” Ruto said. “If we don’t correct the mistakes of the past, we will most unlikely succeed.”
He lamented that the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission had been undermined by chronic shortfalls in international backing citing the failure to deploy the initially promised 2,500 security personnel, inadequate armored vehicles and logistical support, and unreliable equipment.
The boost would be accompanied by the creation of a support office within the UN, suggested several months ago by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to provide the required logistical and financial support.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said last week: “This mandate would empower the force to proactively target gangs and restore security to Haiti while ensuring it has the appropriate tools to succeed the mission’s anticipated objectives.”
“Unfortunately, adopting this resolution is not a given. Despite the majority support of the Security Council, some might try to prevent its adoption or slow down our response to Haiti,” Landau said.
China had already expressed skepticism about the role of the MSS without political transition in Haiti, but it abstained during the vote, as did Russia.
