U.S. floats draft language for resolution to send UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti
The Biden administration is seeking a year’s extension of the current Kenya-led security mission in Haiti, while also asking the United Nations Security Council to begin planning to transition the underfunded and ill-equipped operation into an official U.N. peacekeeping force.
The request is outlined in a four-sentence draft resolution currently being kept under wraps among U.N. member states, according to two people familiar with the matter and language shared with the Miami Herald. The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to debate the fate of the largely U.S.-funded, U.N.-backed security mission on Sept. 30 ahead of the expiration of its year-long mandate on Oct. 2.
Last week, the Herald exclusively reported that the State Department had notified members of Congress that it would seek the change to the Kenya-led operation, which has struggled to attract funds to pay for its operations and been hobbled by a lack of manpower. Though expected to be made up of 2,500 security personnel from a half-dozen nations, the mission currently has only about 400 Kenyan police officers who began arriving in Haiti on June 25 to help the country’s national police.
The Kenyan officers, many of whom are from specialized units, initially arrived to great fanfare and hope. But they have since been the target of criticism and have yet to make any significant impact on armed gangs, some of which have increased their attacks despite the mission’s presence. The Kenyan officers have also experienced delays in getting paid.
On Saturday, the Belize Defense Force announced that it had deployed two officers to join their Jamaican counterparts as part of their assignment to the MSS mission in Haiti. The BDF will be collaborating with the Jamaica Defense Force, a press release said. Jamaica is the lead nation for Caribbean countries participating in the Haiti mission.
The U.S., which built the Kenyans’ base of operations in Haiti and has provided dozens of armored vehicles and other equipment, remains the mission’s biggest backer, with more than $300 million in contributions. Canada is the second largest donor, recently contributing $54 million to a U.N.-controlled trust fund for the mission’s operations. There is a total of $84.7 million in the trust fund including a recent U.S. donation of $9 million, according to the U.N.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken who visited Haiti and the Dominican Republic last week, said the mission is not meant to be “an indefinite endeavor” but its purpose is to regain control from the gangs. He noted that last year the entire U.N. Security Council “got behind” the mission when it approved it for a year, with permanent members China and Russia abstaining from the vote.
“The mission itself needs to be renewed, and that’s what we’re working on right now,” Blinken said during a press conference in Port-au-Prince at the end of his visit Thursday. “But we also want to make sure that we have something that is reliable, that’s sustainable, and we’ll look at every option to do that. So a peacekeeping operation would be one such option.”
In addition to convincing Russia and China to support the resolution, the U.S. will also need to persuade U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. A critic of peacekeeping operations, Guterres has not publicly said whether he will support the U.S. proposal or what an alternative to the current mission might be.
“I think what we really should all focus on now, what member states need to focus on, is why is this force still underfunded?” Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters Monday in New York. “Member states need to step up and fund the force that already exists.”
Dujarric said it is critical for any peacekeeping mission to have the full support of local authorities.
“We have a force already on the ground. It’s currently underfunded,” he said. “It doesn’t need that much money in terms of the money that’s floating around in the world and it should be fully funded.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2024 at 8:04 PM.
