Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would push for funding an international police force to fight armed gangs in Haiti.
Blinken He told reporters at a press conference. While in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, he met with Haitian leaders to discuss how to increase support for a U.N. assistance mission that is seeking to strengthen Haiti's national police force.
A senior Biden administration official said the U.S. will seek increased funding for the Multinational Security Assistance Mission (MSS) at the U.N. General Assembly this month. The U.S. will also seek to renew the MSS mission, which was first authorized in October 2023, Blinken said.
“At this critical moment, we need more funding and manpower to sustain and execute this mission's objectives,” he said.
The Secretary of State said he expects there will be support at the United Nations for extending the MSS and considering further options to restore order in the Caribbean, and he hopes more countries will provide funding.
“We also want to ensure it's reliable and sustainable, and we're going to explore all options to achieve that,” he said. “But the end goal is this. This is not an indefinite endeavor. The objective of this mission is, first of all, to take back control from the gangs, but secondly, to empower Haitian institutions, particularly the Haitian National Police, to take on this task themselves.”
The Kenyan-led MSS first deployed in late June, with about 400 police officers stationed at a base built by military contractors. Washington has also provided about $300 million for the mission, and U.S. Southern Command has helped transport critical equipment to the MSS.
MSS’s only other major partners are Kenya and Canada.
The MSS, tasked with training and directing Haiti's national police to fight the gangs, has struggled to restore order and has yet to clear Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area.
Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, who met with Secretary of State Blinken on Thursday, said his country needed more funding and support for the Haitian police and MSS to combat gangs that have seized control of much of the capital this year but have terrorized Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jobnel Moïse.
Blinken said Thursday that the MSS has been successful so far, with “enhanced joint operations” helping to reopen the airport and retake a key hospital. He said he had been briefed by Haitian authorities and the MSS on a “clear plan” for further progress.
“Police are fighting gangs and sending a strong message that Haitian people, not Haitian gangs, will decide the future of their country,” he said.
“We're very clear about what it takes to address the challenges in Haiti. There's a huge amount of work to do,” Blinken continued. “The challenges are significant. But after spending a few hours here today, meeting with leaders, talking to people, and immersing myself in the work that's been done over the last few months, I think we're seeing an emergence — a re-emergence — of incredible resilience and hope.”
Blinken on Thursday announced an additional $45 million in humanitarian aid for Haiti, which he said would bring U.S. aid to more than $210 million this year.
