New York, United States – The United Nations Security Council has approved the transformation of its current law enforcement mission in Haiti into a larger military-backed force of up to 5,500 uniformed personnel, marking the most significant international intervention in the country in years.
The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Panama, passed with 12 votes in favour and abstentions from China and Russia. The new mandate expands the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), which currently deploys around 1,000 police officers, mostly from Kenya, into a force capable of mounting full-scale military operations against gangs.
“Every day, innocent lives are snuffed out by bullets, fire, and fear. Entire neighborhoods are disappearing,” warned Laurent Saint-Cyr, chair of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, in urging the Council to act. He described the country as a “contemporary Guernica, a human tragedy on America’s doorstep.”
The expanded mission will run for an initial one-year period, supported by a new UN logistics and finance office. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the resolution would empower the force to “proactively target gangs and restore security to Haiti while ensuring it has the appropriate tools to succeed.”
Kenyan President William Ruto welcomed the move, saying: “With the right personnel, adequate resources, appropriate equipment, and necessary logistics, Haiti’s security can be restored.”
Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, has been gripped by spiraling violence since gangs forced former Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign in 2024. The country, which has not held elections since 2016, is now governed by a Transitional Presidential Council amid widespread killings, kidnappings, and the displacement of over a million people
