Haiti far from winning gang war, PM tells UN

New York — Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille said on Wednesday that the Caribbean country was a long way from winning its war against armed gangs that control most of the capital, as a UN deadline for long-delayed support fast approaches.

“We are nowhere near winning this, and the simple reality is that we won’t without your help,” Conille said at an event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“There is a sense of urgency because the Haitian people are watching with cautious optimism, they’re really hoping to see clear results.”

Haiti faces a gang attack at the capital’s main port, Conille said, the key entry point for funding and goods.

A shipping official told Reuters this week that ships were being shot at, preventing them from docking and unloading containers, while authorities have reported the kidnapping of two Filipino crew members from a cargo vessel in the port.

Haiti’s main seaports and international airport closed for nearly three months earlier in 2024 after violence escalated at the end of February, an outbreak that saw thousands broken out of prison and the last prime minister resign.

“We worry that without the urgent implication of everyone to support this effort, we will lose the little success that we’ve been able to obtain at a very large price,” Conille said.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken earlier announced sanctions against former deputy Prophane Victor and gang leader Luckson Elan for their role in human rights abuses, as well as $160m in assistance for Haiti, and called for further support of the UN-backed international security mission.

About 10 countries have together pledged more than 3,100 troops, but only about 400 have deployed. The UN’s one-year mandate expires in early October and the UN Security Council is set to vote on September 30 on whether to renew it.

While countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, both the UN mission trust fund and humanitarian plan remain drastically underfunded.

Musalia Mudavadi, an official from Kenya, which is leading the mission, said the current funds were not enough to sustain the current deployment, let alone the thousands of troops that were promised.

“We encourage all the countries that have pledged troops to move with speed,” he said.

The number of people internally displaced has nearly doubled in the past six months, according to UN estimates, now surpassing 700,000. About half the country is going hungry.

Conille’s government is also tasked with arranging the first elections since 2016. His predecessor repeatedly delayed a vote, saying a free and fair process could not take place under the existing insecurity. The US, the mission’s top financial backer, has pushed for elections by 2025.

Conille said that while far more security was needed, Haiti was already investing half of an estimated $140m needed to hold a referendum on the constitution in February and elections in November 2025.

Conille said he was “quite confident” that they would be able to hold the votes despite the insecurity, but warned that this would not be possible if commitments enabling the mission’s full deployment are not kept.

Reuters