<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The United States announced on Thursday that it is seeking UN authorisation for a new “Gang Suppression Force” to help tackle the escalating violence in Haiti, where armed groups have expanded their brutal activities from the capital into the countryside.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea made the announcement at a UN Security Council meeting, but it was unclear how it would differ from the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support force now deployed in the violence-torn Caribbean nation trying to help police curb gang violence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Shea thanked Kenya for answering Haiti’s call “at a critical moment” and leading a multinational force for more than a year, saying without it “the gangs would have been even more emboldened in their ambitions and brazen atrocities against civilians in Haiti.”</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/major-russian-attack-includes-rare-strikes-on-the-center-of-kyiv-killing-at-least-21/377f8b8b-06aa-4f23-9846-d33638d81e47" target="_blank"><strong><span>Major Russian attack includes rare strikes on the centre of Kyiv, killing at least 21</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She said the US and Panama will be circulating a draft resolution to the Security Council to establish the Gang Suppression Force and create a U.N. Support Office to provide logistical support to it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In February, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed opening an office that would provide drones, fuel, ground and air transportation and other non-lethal support to the Kenya-led mission.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Shea gave no indication of whether the United States would provide any military or police support to the new Gang Suppression Force, or whether Kenya and the other contributing countries – the Bahamas, El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala and Jamaica – would remain part of it.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/us-seeks-un-authorization-for-new-gang-suppression-force-to-tackle-escalating-violence-in-haiti/b63423c7-c67a-4b77-b5f0-be2b27e27f48" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One council diplomat said it had been informed that the Kenya-led force would be renamed and transformed into the Gang Suppression Force with a significant increase in size and UN logistical support.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The diplomat was not authorized to speak publicly because discussions were private.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The first Kenyans arrived in Haiti in June 2024 and the force was supposed to have 2500 troops but its current strength is below 1000.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Shea urged Security Council members to support the “new path towards peace and security.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And she urged the international community “to come to the table and join the United States, Panama and others who have demonstrated their commitment to Haiti’s security, in meaningful burden sharing to help promote stability in Haiti.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The US announcement follows a report that the security firm of former US Navy SEAL Erik Prince will soon deploy nearly 200 personnel from various countries to Haiti as part of a one-year deal to quell gang violence, a person with knowledge of the plans said earlier this month.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The deployment by Vectus Global is meant to help the government of Haiti recover vast swaths of territory seized in the past year and now controlled by heavily armed gangs, said the person, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/porepunkah-victoria-police-officer-shooting-people-escorted-from-home/58cb7c8b-9cc2-412b-baf9-94a6619eebe4" target="_blank"><strong><span>Teenage boy, woman arrested by police in Porepunkah investigation</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The deployment by Vectus Global is meant to help the government of Haiti recover vast swaths of territory seized in the past year and now controlled by heavily armed gangs, said the person, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The company, which provides logistics, infrastructure, security and defense, is run by Prince, a major donor to US President Donald Trump. Prince previously founded the controversial security firm Blackwater.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Seven countries, including the United States, informed Guterres in a letter Wednesday that they were taking action on another of his February recommendations – to form a “Standing Group of Partners” to provide “high-level strategic direction, oversight, and political decision-making for any revamped security force.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The group — which also includes Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Bahamas and Kenya — said it will work to secure voluntary financial contributions for costs not covered by the UN Support Office, to facilitate an increase in force numbers, and to provide coordination for a revamped force including putting a special representative in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Guterres addressed the Security Council before Shea spoke welcoming efforts by unnamed council members to advance his February proposals to strengthen the multinational mission with UN logistical and operational support.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He urged the council “to act without delay and authorize an international force, supported by the United Nations through logistical and operational backing, and predictable financing.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The UN chief warned the council that Haitians “are in a perfect storm of suffering,” pointing to crumbling state authority, gang violence spreading beyond the capital forcing families to flee, and hospitals and schools coming under repeated attack.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The humanitarian toll is staggering: 1.3 million people – half of them children – have fled their homes,” Guterres said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Six million people need humanitarian assistance.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Yet, he said, the UN appeal for $908 million to help 3.9 million people this year is less than 10 per cent funded, “making Haiti the least funded humanitarian appeal in the world”.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Guterres called it “a life-and-death emergency,” warning that 1.7 million Haitians risk receiving no assistance at all unless donors act now.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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