“The Secretary-General urges the international community, including members of the Security Council, to urgently consider the request of the Haitian government for the immediate deployment of an international force specialized in dealing with the humanitarian crisis,” said Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
“Guterres remains deeply concerned about the situation in Haiti, which is facing an outbreak of cholera cases, in the context of a dramatic security deterioration that has paralyzed the country,” he said in a statement, adding that the Secretary-General “has handed the Security Council a letter outlining options to enhance security support in Haiti, according to the statement. As requested by the Council in its resolution 2645 (2022).
Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Boucchet Edmond, told AFP that his country had requested “international assistance” to confront criminal gangs that are causing a security crisis that the police are unable to contain, stressing that assistance was officially requested Thursday, and that “my community has received the international community and the international partners, to decide what form it will take.”
Haiti has witnessed riots, looting and protests, since the government announced a hike in gasoline prices last September. The Haitian police has been suffering from a lack of capacity for years, and the number of its forces is about 10,000 only.