US seeks UN authorization for new 'Gang Suppression Force' to tackle
escalating violence in Haiti
[August 29, 2025]
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States announced Thursday that it is
seeking U.N. authorization 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.
Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea made the announcement at a U.N.
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.
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.”
She said the U.S. 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.
In February, U.N. 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.
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.
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 U.N. logistical support. The diplomat
was not authorized to speak publicly because discussions were private.
The first Kenyans arrived in Haiti in June 2024 and the force was
supposed to have 2,500 troops but its current strength is below 1,000.
Shea urged Security Council members to support the “new path towards
peace and security.” 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.”
The U.S. announcement follows a report that the security firm of former
U.S. 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.
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.
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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.
The company, which provides logistics, infrastructure, security and
defense, is run by Prince, a major donor to U.S. President Donald
Trump. Prince previously founded the controversial security firm
Blackwater.
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.”
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 U.N. 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.
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 U.N. logistical and
operational support.
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.”
The U.N. 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.
“The humanitarian toll is staggering: 1.3 million people – half of
them children – have fled their homes,” Guterres said. “Six million
people need humanitarian assistance.”
Yet, he said, the U.N. appeal for $908 million to help 3.9 million
people this year is less than 10% funded, “making Haiti the least
funded humanitarian appeal in the world.”
Guterres called it “a life-and-death emergency,” warning that 1.7
million Haitians risk receiving no assistance at all unless donors
act now.
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