The Trump administration on Thursday proposed a significantly larger force to wrest control of Haiti from the clutches of brutal gangs that have set off a major humanitarian crisis.
The move is an acknowledgment that a Kenyan-led international security mission on the ground for more than a year has largely failed to crush the explosion of gang violence in the Caribbean nation.
The United States and Panama presented a draft proposal to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that would create a “gang-suppression force” with a maximum of 5,550 uniformed personnel. The force would have arrest and detention powers and more military-grade capabilities and lethal equipment.
The plan would also mandate a U.N. office in Haiti to supply logistical and operational support, which would help provide more stable funding, a key issue that has hampered the current security mission.
It was unclear whether the new plan would replace the Kenyan officers or expand on the force already in Haiti. A spokesman for the Kenyan-led force did not return a request for comment.
The Haitian prime minister’s office and a spokeswoman for the presidential council that runs the country also did not respond to a request for comment.
Under the proposal, countries would donate forces and funding, and several countries, including Canada, El Salvador, the United States and Kenya, would provide “strategic direction” — including choosing the force’s commander.
Experts who reviewed a draft of the plan said it was still unclear what countries would help finance the force and contribute troops.
Haiti has been in the throes of a gang uprising for the past 18 months. Gangs have repeatedly attacked neighborhoods in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, forcing more than 1.3 million people to flee their homes. At least 8,000 people have been killed in the last year and a half.
The Biden administration assembled a Multinational Security Support mission, known as the M.S.S., largely staffed by Kenyan police officers. But too few countries contributed additional personnel or money so, while the Kenyan officers had a few successes, the mission has largely done little to improve security and repel the gangs.
The multinational force had originally been envisioned to have 2,500 officers, but it reached only a little more than 1,000.
Its U.N. mandate will expire on Oct. 2, and the sense of urgency to decide its future is palpable.
The proposal would empower the new force to conduct operations on its own to neutralize gangs rather than simply play a support role for the Haitian National Police — a key difference, said Sophie Rutenbar, an expert on Haitian peacekeeping missions at the Brookings Institution.
“That in itself is an acknowledgment that the current approach is failing,” Ms. Rutenbar said.
Still, experts say the chances that the Security Council will approve the plan are slim since Russia and China would most likely veto it.
The U.S. proposal noted that, despite the multinational forces’ best efforts, “its modest resources and resultant capacities have not been able to keep pace with the dramatic expansion of the threat posed by gangs.”
Dorothy Shea, the acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N., thanked Kenya for stepping up, adding that the country’s officers had “prevented a complete collapse of the Haitian state.”
She urged members of the Security Council to approve the measure.
“This will ensure the mission has the tools at its disposal to take the fight to the gangs and ensure that the Haitian state can meet the foundational needs of its people,” Ms. Shea said.
The Trump administration has come under criticism for dragging its feet on Haiti, particularly since António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, had made a similar proposal months ago, which never came before the Security Council for a vote.
Russian and Chinese representatives did not indicate on Thursday whether they would support the measure, and it was unclear when the Security Council would vote on it. Russia and China both argue that Haiti’s problems were created by Western meddling, and can be solved only by respecting and supporting homegrown solutions.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russian deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said the M.S.S.’s difficulties were predictable.
“We warned about all of this at the very beginning,” he said, “yet our warnings fell on deaf ears.”
In a clear recognition that the United Nations brought cholera to Haiti during its peacekeeping mission there that ended in 2017, causing an outbreak that resulted in nearly 10,000 deaths, the proposal specifically called for appropriate wastewater management to control the spread of waterborne diseases.
David C. Adams contributed reporting.
Frances Robles is a Times reporter covering Latin America and the Caribbean. She has reported on the region for more than 25 years.
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