PORTAUPRINCE: The UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for a robust international effort to help the country’s beleaguered police in fighting rampant criminal gangs as he visited Haiti to spotlight violence and chaos in the country.
For months, Guterres has raised the alarm bell about the situation in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, which has been wracked by political instability, spiraling violence and a worsening public health situation.
But in his first visit to Haiti as head of the United Nations, he traveled to Port-au-Prince to make his point on the ground.
“We must put Haiti on the international political map, and make the tragedy of the Haitian people the international community’s top priority,” Guterres told a press conference.
“I met Haitians, and I felt the exhaustion of a population that has been facing a cascade of crises and unbearable living conditions for too long,” he said.
“This is not the time to forget about Haiti,” Guterres said after meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Henry, and other political and civil society leaders.
Guterres urged the United Nations Security Council, which is due to discuss the Haiti situation later this month, “to authorize the immediate deployment of a robust international security force.”
In October, he relayed Henry’s request for a non-UN force to support the overwhelmed national police force.
But the call went unheeded. A few countries have shown their willingness to participate, but none has volunteered to lead an operation in a country where multiple past foreign interventions have become mired.
“I call on those states that have the capacity to provide a robust security force to stop hesitating and be ready to follow a Security Council decision,” Guterres said.
“Every day counts. If we don’t act now, instability and violence will have a lasting impact on generations of Haitians.” –AFP/APP
