Criminal Gangs Intensify Attacks in Haiti

Maria Isabel Salvador, the head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), has raised alarms about the escalating activities of criminal gangs in the country, particularly in areas they have yet to seize control of.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council, she noted a significant increase in violence over the past week in and around the capital, its suburbs, and agricultural regions. Residents have been facing extended sieges and are urgently seeking additional security support. Salvador emphasized that the overall situation in Haiti has “unfortunately deteriorated.”

She told the Council that the violence is “spreading terror and fear, overwhelming the national security apparatus” and that the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission remains “seriously understaffed, which could affect its deployment and prevent it from carrying out its duties”. Earlier, Haiti’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Antonio Rodrigue, said that the past three weeks have seen a targeted and sustained joint security operation against gangs by security officers with the MSS and Haitian National Police, particularly in the centre of Port-au-Prince, but tangible results have been “slow”.