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Reuters
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
UN appoints Mexican diplomat as new chief of shrinking Haiti office
MEXICO CITY, July 3 (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Mexican diplomat Carlos Ruiz as the organization's special representative to Haiti and head of the U.N.'s office in the embattled Caribbean nation, that office, known as BINUH, said on Thursday. Ruiz had worked as special representative for Colombia since 2019, BINUH said, adding that he has monitored the implementation of the country's peace agreement and worked on recent peace talks between the government and armed guerrilla groups. The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti is referred to as BINUH, the French acronym for the mission's full name. Ruiz is set to succeed Ecuador's Maria Isabel Salvador as head of the shrinking U.N. office as Haiti faces a worsening conflict fueled by powerful, heavily armed gangs that have driven nearly 1.3 million people from their homes and are expanding to new areas despite efforts from national police. A voluntary U.N.-backed force has also partially deployed to Haiti to boost local police but has struggled to make headway, hampered by shortages of troops, funds and equipment. BINUH's work includes advising the government as well as tracking and monitoring human-rights abuses and security trends, including the evolution of gangs' territorial control, killings, kidnappings and civilian displacements. In a July 1 letter to the U.N. Security Council seen by Reuters, Guterres said he planned to re-evaluate the office's 2026 budget in view of a smaller headcount following repeated evacuations due to the "dire security situation" in Haiti. "Established in 2019, BINUH was not designed, nor does it have adequate evacuation and security assets, to operate in such a hostile environment," Guterres said in the letter. "Consequently, the Secretariat and BINUH have undertaken a review of the mission concept to achieve a more focused, smaller, yet impactful, mission." The U.N. since last November has had a maximum authorized capacity of 133 international staff in Port-au-Prince, the letter added, including 17 from BINUH - a limit based on its current extraction capacity of a single helicopter. Many U.N. staff operate from abroad. On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told a meeting of the Security Council that the cost of additional resources needed to boost BINUH's security and evacuation capabilities in 2026 would be offset by a smaller local footprint.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
International Neglect Has Left Haiti Spiraling Toward Total Collapse
'Haiti could face total collapse,' Maria Isabel Salvador, the United Nations special representative to Haiti, said last week. She also said the country was nearing the 'point of no return' and close to 'total chaos.' Officials and analysts struggle with the language to describe the dire situation that Haiti now faces. The country has been in such bad shape for so long that warnings about Haiti's plight can easily be ignored as just more of the same. However, as Salvador warned, the reports from the capital and elsewhere signal that the country is experiencing a new level of conflict in which the degree of state failure and gang control could be far worse than seen previously. Violent gangs control about 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are engaged in an offensive to take over the remaining areas that have avoided the worst of the violence up to now. The transitional government is already shutting down operations in the capital and will likely be forced to flee the city. Outside the capital, a coalition of gangs is taking over cities, towns, and rural areas at an increasing pace. Much of the country's healthcare and education infrastructure has collapsed. The University Hospital of Mirebalais, the last remaining major hospital in the country with strong infrastructure, was forced to close as gangs took over the city, released 500 gang members from a local prison and looted the equipment at the hospital. UNICEF says over a million children face the threat of malnutrition in the near future, and the World Food Program reports about half the population is experiencing some form of food insecurity. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. The U.N. mission that is supposed to be stabilizing the situation and improving the country's security is overwhelmed, underfunded and understaffed. Voluntary contributions have only reached about $100 million of the $600 million that is needed to cover this year's Multinational Security Support, or MSS, mission. Only 1,000 of the proposed 2,500 foreign police have arrived in the country. As I wrote at the outset of the mission in late 2023, the international community 'authorized a mission that is clearly too small to succeed at the current proposed levels.' The numbers should have been closer to 15,000 at a minimum, but the U.N. simply could not reach an agreement. The challenges in Haiti aren't in any way a criticism of the actions of the Kenya-led police mission in the country. There simply aren't enough of them and they don't have the funding to succeed. The international community has set them up for failure, which is another reason that more countries have avoided contributing personnel. The United States, rather than offering to help, has announced that it will cut funding for Haiti. At the U.N., the U.S. is demanding other countries contribute more even as the U.S. reduces its financial support for the MSS and other U.N. programs that are helping Haiti's security and humanitarian situation. Combined with cuts in U.S. foreign assistance and the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development, it means the funds available for Haiti have been suddenly and drastically reduced. The loss of the U.S. assistance and the surge of the gangs is not a coincidental combination. Last week, the Miami Herald reported that the Trump administration plans to designate Haiti's gangs as terrorist groups, as it has done for Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, El Salvador's MS-13 and six Mexican cartels. Unfortunately, this move is not a sign of a new security strategy or a plan to help Haiti retake the initiative to defeat the groups. Instead, the designation appears to be part of Trump's deportation agenda, giving U.S. domestic authorities greater latitude to detain Haitian migrants and deport them to either Haiti or, potentially, El Salvador, as they have done with Venezuelan migrants. This is the point where columnists usually write the word 'should.' The U.S. should reverse course on Haiti, and providing greater funding and support. The Trump administration should not deport people to a country where violence is increasing so drastically. The U.N. should authorize a much larger and more comprehensive peacekeeping mission. Countries should contribute more police and other peacekeeping personnel to halt the advance of the gangs trying to take over the country. The international community should fully fund that security mission as well as the vast humanitarian needs of the country in food, health, and education. And, though conditions keep getting further from ideal, Haiti should try to hold some form of elections so there is a democratically chosen leadership group that legitimately represents the population. But realistically, none of these things that should happen will happen. No significant new funding will appear as every country in the world focuses on responding to a global economic slowdown amid the trade war. Countries won't contribute personnel to a mission that is an active combat zone where they will be outgunned by the gangs. Haiti's transitional leadership has no interest in holding elections soon and couldn't pull off the conditions for voters to freely go to the polls right now given the gang control of most areas. The gangs are about to win within months if not weeks. That is a dark analysis, but likely accurate, and analysts must not just warn that Haiti might collapse but begin thinking about what it means for Haiti to be under the full control of violent gangs instead of a recognized government. One of the smaller gangs within the coalition of violent groups sometimes refers to itself half-jokingly as the 'Taliban' and has even set up a radio station in Mirebalais that it calls 'Taliban FM.' There is no real comparison or connection between Haiti's gangs and the radical group that took over Afghanistan, but the analogy to the Taliban takeover in August 2021 as the U.S. withdrew may be a good one to consider when thinking about Haiti's future. However, Haiti's version of it is likely to be even more chaotic as there will not be one powerful group taking over but rather dozens of groups, some of whom will compete violently against each other within and outside the capital. The Taliban have survived for almost three years as the leaders of Afghanistan, and they are fully entrenched. Once the gangs take over Haiti, they are also likely to remain in control for years to come, even as they fight each other. The humanitarian situation will worsen and those who can will flee, though both the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, Haiti's neighbor, have shown themselves to be more hostile than ever towards migrants and refugees from the country. Perhaps the most damning lesson from Haiti's collapse is that the international community knows today what is needed to prevent it, yet collectively chooses not to provide it. Years of warnings went unheeded, funding requests went unfulfilled, and mere statements replaced decisive action. Ongoing chaos in Haiti isn't inevitable, but it is the scenario that is very likely to play out in 2025, the predictable outcome of international neglect. James Bosworth is the founder of Hxagon, a firm that does political risk analysis and bespoke research in emerging and frontier markets, as well as a global fellow at the Wilson Center's Latin America Program. He has two decades of experience analyzing politics, economics and security in Latin America and the Caribbean. The post International Neglect Has Left Haiti Spiraling Toward Total Collapse appeared first on World Politics Review.
Free Malaysia Today
23-04-2025
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
Key hospital in central Haiti closes due to gang violence
Haitian army soldiers patrol the city during a protest against insecurity in Port-au-Prince. (AP pic) PORT-AU-PRINCE: A top hospital in Haiti is closing its doors due to worsening insecurity after gangs attacked the central city of Mirebalais, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday, marking another blow to the country's fragile health sector. The hospital had effectively closed at the start of April, the University Hospital of Mirebalais' deputy executive director Pierre-Marie Cherenfant told Reuters, when it began transferring patients out to other hospitals in the area. The hospital in the city some 55km northeast of capital Port-au-Prince had operated as a reference hospital for patients, providing affordable care for difficult cases ranging from Covid-19 to advanced cancer treatments. Partners in Health, which set up the hospital more than a decade ago, said on its website the hospital counted 300 beds and typically saw some 850 patients per day from around the country. UHM began transferring patients after the powerful Viv Ansanm gang alliance began attacking Mirebalais at the end of March, when gang members broke some 500 inmates out of prison. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) also recently halted services around the capital to the end of June, citing a targeted shooting against one of its transport vehicles. Armed gangs have made strong gains in the first part of this year, in the face of struggling local security forces and limited international support, driving up violence and forcing tens of thousands more residents from their homes. The United Nations estimated in October that less than a quarter of health facilities in and around the capital were in operation. On Monday, the UN's special representative to the country, Maria Isabel Salvador, told the Security Council that without 'sufficient and predictable funding, even a minimal UN presence may become unsustainable.'
Straits Times
22-04-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
Key hospital in central Haiti closes due to gang violence
PORT-AU-PRINCE - A top hospital in Haiti is closing its doors due to worsening insecurity after gangs attacked the central city of Mirebalais, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday, marking another blow to the country's fragile health sector. The hospital had effectively closed at the start of April, the University Hospital of Mirebalais' deputy executive director Pierre-Marie Cherenfant told Reuters, when it began transferring patients out to other hospitals in the area. The hospital in the city some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of capital Port-au-Prince had operated as a reference hospital for patients, providing affordable care for difficult cases ranging from COVID-19 to advanced cancer treatments. Partners in Health, which set up the hospital more than a decade ago, said on its website the hospital counted 300 beds and typically saw some 850 patients per day from around the country. UHM began transferring patients after the powerful Viv Ansanm gang alliance began attacking Mirebalais at the end of March, when gang members broke some 500 inmates out of prison. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) also recently halted services around the capital to the end of June, citing a targeted shooting against one of its transport vehicles. Armed gangs have made strong gains in the first part of this year, in the face of struggling local security forces and limited international support, driving up violence and forcing tens of thousands more residents from their homes. The United Nations estimated in October that less than a quarter of health facilities in and around the capital were in operation. On Monday, the U.N.'s special representative to the country, Maria Isabel Salvador, told the Security Council that without "sufficient and predictable funding, even a minimal U.N. presence may become unsustainable." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Belfast Telegraph
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Haiti could face ‘chaos' without more international support, UN envoy warns
Maria Isabel Salvador warned on Monday that 'Haiti could face total chaos' without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti's police to tackle the gangs' expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, she said, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack, over 500 prisoners were freed. It was the fifth prison break in under a year, 'part of a deliberate effort to entrench dominance, dismantle institutions and instil fear'. Haiti's police, supported by the armed forces and the Kenya-led force, were overwhelmed by the scale and duration of the violence, the UN special representative said.. The gangs have grown in power since the July 7 2021, assassination of president Jovenel Moise and are now estimated to control 85% of the capital and are moving into surrounding areas. Haiti has not had a president since then. The UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police arrived in Haiti last year to help local authorities quell gang violence. The mission remains understaffed and underfunded, with only about 40% of the 2,500 personnel originally envisioned. Ms Salvador said that in February and March alone, 1,086 people were killed and 383 were injured. In addition, according to the UN migration office, over 60,000 Haitians were displaced in the past two months, adding to 1 million already displaced by December. 'These figures are expected to rise,' she said. Earlier this month, the leader of Haiti's transitional presidential council, Fritz Alphonse Jean, tried to allay surging alarm among Haitians over the rampant gang violence by acknowledging that the country has 'become hell for everyone.' He promised new measures to stop the bloodshed. But Ms Salvador, who heads the UN political mission in the country, said the Haitian government's efforts alone will be insufficient to significantly reduce the intensity of the violence perpetrated by criminal groups. In February, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he would ask the Security Council to authorise funding for the structural and logistical expenses of the Kenya-led mission from the UN budget. But there are no signs that the 15-member council plans to address this request anytime soon. 'Without timely, decisive and concrete international assistance, the security situation in Haiti may not change,' Ms Salvador warned. 'Haiti could face total chaos.' Kenya's national security adviser, Monica Juma, told the council in a video briefing from Nairobi that the force has entered 'a decisive phase of its operation' where gangs are coordinating operations and attacking people and strategic installations, and targeting the political establishment. While the Haitian police and the multinational force have launched intensive anti-gang operations and achieved some notable progress, especially in securing critical infrastructure, she said a significant gap exists. Ms Juma said 261 Kenyan police officers are trained and ready to deploy to Haiti, but they can't get there because of a lack of equipment and logistical support. She urged the council to take a 'more assertive and proactive role' in helping to stabilise Haiti, saying time is of the essence. Ms Juma said that it is critical to stabilising the country is stopping the flow of guns and ammunition to the gangs and implementing sanctions against gang leaders.
