The Guardian Top News｜联合国安理会批准组建新军事力量打击海地帮派

Unit will have up to 5,500 soldiers and police officers who will tackle the violence that has overwhelmed the country

The United Nations has adopted a resolution to transform a security mission in gang-dominated Haiti into a larger, fully fledged force with military troops.

The new unit can now have a maximum of 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and soldiers, unlike the current mission, which is just law enforcement. The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, said the vote by 12 security council members to transform the Multinational Security Support mission to the new gang suppression force, a mission five-times the size of its predecessor showed the international community was sharing the burden.

Washington co-sponsored the enlargement push with Panama.

Currently just 1,000 police officers, mostly from Kenya, are deployed in Haiti under the MSS to support the overwhelmed Haitian police in their fight against rampant gang violence . But the mission, which was approved in 2023, has had mixed results.

Every day, innocent lives are snuffed out by bullets, fire and fear, Laurent Saint-Cyr, who heads the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council, told the UNs signature diplomatic gathering last week. Entire neighbourhoods are disappearing, forcing more than a million people into internal exile and reducing to nothing memories, investments and infrastructure.

This is the face of Haiti today, a country at war, a contemporary Guernica, a human tragedy on Americas doorstep, he added.

Saint-Cyr had thrown his support behind the US and Panamanian proposal to evolve the MSS into a more resilient force for an initial period of one year. The council can help restore peace in a nation currently suffocated by merciless gangs, Panamas ambassador to the UN Eloy Alfaro de Alba said ahead of the vote.

Kenyas president, William Ruto, said last week that with the right personnel, adequate resources, appropriate equipment and necessary logistics, Haitis security can be restored.

The major force boost will be accompanied by the creation of a support office within the UN, suggested several months ago by the secretary general, Antnio Guterres, to provide the required logistical and financial support.

The US deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, said last week: This mandate would empower the force to proactively target gangs and restore security to Haiti while ensuring it has the appropriate tools to succeed the missions anticipated objectives.

China had expressed scepticism about the role of the MSS without political transition in Haiti and abstained during the vote to create it in 2023, as did Russia. Beijing and Moscow abstained again on Tuesdays vote.

The poorest country in the Americas , Haiti has long suffered at the hands of violent criminal gangs that commit murders, rapes, looting and kidnappings against a backdrop of chronic political instability.

The situation has worsened significantly since early 2024, when gangs drove then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign. The country, which has not held elections since 2016, has since been led by a Transitional Presidential Council.

该部队将配备多达5500名士兵和警察，以应对席卷全国的暴力活动。

联合国通过决议，决定将海地黑帮猖獗地区的维和特派团升级为规模更大、建制完备的军事部队。

与当前仅执行执法任务的行动不同，新组建的部队可配备最多5500名制服人员，包括警察和士兵。美国驻联合国大使迈克·沃尔兹表示，安理会12个成员国投票通过将“多国安全支助团转型为规模扩大五倍的新型帮派镇压部队”，此举表明“国际社会正在共同分担责任”。

华盛顿与巴拿马共同发起了这项扩员倡议。

目前仅有1000名警察（主要来自肯尼亚）根据多国安全支助团（MSS）部署在海地，以支援不堪重负的海地警方打击猖獗的帮派暴力。但这项于2023年获批的任务成效参差不齐。

海地过渡总统委员会主席洛朗·圣西尔上周在联合国标志性外交会议上表示：'每天都有无辜的生命被子弹、大火和恐惧吞噬。整片社区正在消失，迫使超过一百万人流离失所，将记忆、投资和基础设施化为乌有。'

他补充道：“这就是今日海地的面貌——一个战火纷飞的国度，一幅当代的《格尔尼卡》，一场发生在美国门槛上的人间悲剧。”

圣西尔已表态支持美国和巴拿马的提案，该提案建议将MSS（安全支助团）转型为更具韧性的力量，初步为期一年。巴拿马驻联合国大使埃洛伊·阿尔法罗·德阿尔巴在投票前表示：“安理会能够帮助这个正被无情帮派窒息的国家恢复和平。”

肯尼亚总统威廉·鲁托上周表示，"只要配备合适的人员、充足的资源、适当的装备和必要的后勤支持，海地的安全局势就能够得到恢复"。

联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯数月前提议，在联合国内部设立一个支援办公室，以便提供必要的后勤和财政支持，此举将与主力部队的增援行动同步进行。

美国副国务卿克里斯托弗·兰道上周表示：“这项授权将使部队能够主动打击帮派，恢复海地的安全，同时确保其拥有完成任务预期目标的适当工具。”

中国曾对海地未实现政治过渡情况下设立多国安全支助团（MSS）的作用表示质疑，并在2023年该机构成立投票中投下弃权票，俄罗斯亦然。在周二的投票中，北京与莫斯科再次选择弃权。

作为美洲最贫穷的国家，海地长期饱受暴力犯罪团伙的摧残。在长期政治动荡的背景下，这些团伙犯下谋杀、强奸、抢劫和绑架等罪行。

自2024年初以来，局势急剧恶化，当时帮派迫使时任总理阿里埃尔·亨利辞职。该国自2016年以来未举行过选举，此后一直由过渡总统委员会领导。