UN International force deployed to aid Haiti amid gang violence.
The United Nations Security Council has backed the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti in response to the plea of the Caribbean nations prime minister.
The 15-member council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the deployment on Monday, 2nd October,2023, with 13 approving a Kenyan-led mission to Haiti.
Haiti, a former French Caribbean colony that became the world's first black republic at the start of the 19th Century after an epoch-making 1791 slave revolt, has a history of foreign interventions and has suffered from gang violence for decades but the current wave of brutality escalated after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July, 2021.
In a report published by Al Jazeera in August 2023,it was reported that an estimated 2,439 people have died between January and August 15 of 2023 due to gang violence.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has repeatedly requested international assistance over the past year as gang violence had skyrocketed, leading to continuous insecurity and a spate of vigilante reprisals and that has spurred the UN Security Council to approve the mission for a year with a review after nine months.
According to the resolution,the new forces are required to have joint security operations and they also would have the authority to make arrests in coordination with Haitian police.
The Haitian Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus has applauded the decision, calling for countries to commit to participate as soon as possible.He said ,“More than just a simple vote, this is in fact an expression of solidarity with a population in distress,” .
For them ,it is a glimmer of hope for the people that have for too long been suffering.
Kenya is expected to send 1,000 police officers to Haiti as proposed in July, where the Kenyan officials said the officers would guard government buildings and infrastructure, but that plan changed after Kenya sent a fact-finding mission the following month and the country will now deploy an intervention force that will neutralise the armed gangs, protect civilians and bring about peace, security and order.
The Bahamas, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda have also said they will take part in the mission and the minister added that Spain, Senegal and Chile were also likely to deploy security personnel.
