The UN Security Council has extended its authorisation of the Kenya-led multinational policing mission to Haiti, but without any call to transform it into a full UN peacekeeping mission, as requested by Port-au-Prince.
The Kenyan-led policing mission seeking to assist the Haitian national police in taking back control of areas under gang control was extended until 2 October, 2025.
The resolution, adopted unanimously on Monday, expressed "deep concern about the situation in Haiti including violence, criminal activities and mass displacement."
On Friday, the UN said that more than 3,600 people have been killed so far this year in "senseless" gang violence that has ravaged the country.
Two million people in the country are in the grips of emergency levels of hunger and at least 6,000 displaced people face catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Though it is operating under the UN and Haitian government's blessing, the current mission is not a UN-run force.
Lack of funds
Several months after the Security Council's first green light in October 2023, Kenya began deploying its first contingents this summer. The force now numbers around 400 personnel – with more than a dozen officers from both Jamaica and Belize.
Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto pledged that the deployment would be completed by January, bringing the total to 2,500 personnel.
But with the mission hobbled by a chronic lack of funding, Edgard Leblanc Fils – the head of transitional council governing Haiti – told the General Assembly last week he "would like to see a thought being given to transforming the security support mission into a peacekeeping mission under the mandate of the United Nations".
Such a move would allow it to raise necessary funds, he said, echoing a recent proposal from Washington.
Kenya promises full Haiti deployment by January amid calls for UN mission
No shift towards full UN mission
The first version of the extension resolution – drafted by the United States and Ecuador – called for planning to begin for a transition from the security deployment to a full-blown UN peacekeeping operation.
But after fraught negotiations which were marked by opposition from China and Russia, according to diplomatic sources, the adopted text makes no reference to such a shift.
China's representative to the Security Council Geng Shuang pointed out that "the UN has sent multiple peacekeeping operations" in Haiti.
"The results have never been satisfactory".
Instead the resolution as adopted "encourages the MSS mission to accelerate its deployment, and further encourages additional voluntary contributions and support for the mission".
On Saturday, Guinea – ruled by a junta since a putsch in 2021 – offered to contribute 650 police officers to the mission.
(with newswires)
