US, Mexico to seek help from UN to restore peace in crisis-hit Haiti

• The United States and Mexico seek U.N. assistance to restore order in Haiti.
• Haiti is suffering severe shortages of basic necessities and paralysis of economic activity.
• The Security Council is discussing the sanctions system that would impose an arms embargo.

The United States and Mexico announced on Monday that they will seek assistance from the United Nations for a security operation to restore order in Haiti in the face of a rising humanitarian crisis. However, they did not specify who would lead the mission.

Due to gangs’ blockade of a gasoline terminal, which has halted transportation and left many without food or clean water in the midst of a cholera outbreak, Haiti is suffering severe shortages of basic necessities and paralysis of economic activity.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed sending in a “rapid-action force” earlier this month, according to a letter.

During a Security Council meeting on Monday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, stated that the resolution would propose a “carefully scoped non-U.N. mission led by a partner country with the deep and necessary experience required for such an effort to be effective.”

According to a draft resolution, the Security Council is separately discussing a sanctions system that would impose an asset freeze, travel restriction, and arms embargo on anyone who undermines the peace in Haiti.

On Monday, U.S. lawmakers introduced a plan to investigate and punish political elites who collude with gangs.

However, the administration of President Joe Biden was reluctant to commit soldiers to Haiti, a country with a lengthy history of U.S. military intervention.

Representatives of Russia and China reacted with suspicion to the suggestion, stressing that certain Haitian authorities have openly rejected foreign participation and questioned the efficacy of such a force.

“Will sending such a rapid action force to Haiti receive the understanding, support and cooperation of the parties in Haiti?” asked the representative from China. “Or will it face resistance or even trigger violent confrontation from the population?”

MINUSTAH, a United Nations peacekeeping operation that operated in Haiti from 2004 to 2017, was harshly criticized for concerns including its role in a 2010 cholera outbreak.

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