Gangs could overrun Haiti capital if aid falls short: UN chief

Haiti's capital could become overrun by criminal gangs if the international community does not step up aid to a UN-backed security mission there, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned in a report Wednesday.

More money, equipment and personnel are needed for the Kenya-led international force, Guterres said, adding that any further delays risk the "catastrophic" collapse of Haiti's security institutions and "could allow gangs to overrun the entire metropolitan area" of Port-au-Prince.

The UN secretary-general lamented that the mission is "still not deployed to full strength," limiting its capacity to support the Haitian national police.

Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council, said that the country faced "major difficulties" that threatened not just the population but also "the very survival of the state."

The Security Council gave the green light in October 2023 to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission designed to support Haiti's authorities in their fight against gang violence.

But since then, just under 800 of the 2,500 police officers hoped for have been deployed.

More than 5,601 people in Haiti were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence, about a thousand more than in 2023, the UN said.

In the report, Guterres said setbacks in Haiti's political process have "contributed to a climate in which these atrocities have become possible."

Haiti currently has no president or parliament and is ruled by a transitional body, which is struggling to manage extreme violence linked to criminal gangs, poverty and other challenges.

The UN also recorded 315 lynchings of people allegedly affiliated with gangs as well as 281 cases of alleged summary executions by police.

More than a million Haitians have been forced to flee their homes, three times as many as a year ago.

- 'Timidly hopeful' -

The Caribbean nation has suffered from decades of instability but the situation escalated last February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in the capital to overthrow then-prime minister Ariel Henry.

Unpopular and unelected, Henry stepped down in April, his resignation eventually giving way to a transitional government -- which had by November fired its interim prime minister and replaced him with current Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime.

The UN Special Representative in Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, criticized the "increasing fragmentation" of the temporary council.

"While there is progress on the political front and reason to be timidly hopeful, the transition framework remains fragile," she told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Salvador said the humanitarian situation had reached "alarming levels," saying that over six million people -- nearly half the population -- required humanitarian assistance.

The United States had, under former president Joe Biden, backed a request by Haitian authorities to transform the security mission into a UN peacekeeping force, but faced opposition from China and Russia.

So far, the mission has had limited impact on the frequency of attacks by armed groups, who are accused of committing numerous murders, rapes and kidnappings for ransom.

The attacks have also targeted key buildings and infrastructure, which forced the closure of the capital's airport to commercial flights in November.