The United Nations Security Council approved Monday a one-year deployment of a multinational armed force to Haiti to be led by Kenya, nearly a year after the crisis-ridden country appealed to the international community for help to put down the violent gangs that have taken over larger parts of the country.
The vote on Res. 2699 came four days shy of one year since the Haitian government first requested an international military intervention on Oct. 6, 2022. Thirteen of the nations on the 15-member council voted for it, while two countries, China and the Russian Federation, abstained.
The vote is a significant victory for the Biden administration, which after failing to get Canada to take a leadership role in the effort over the course of a year of diplomatic efforts, succeeded in securing the approval of the security council. It is also a win for U.N. Secretary General-Secretary General António Guterres who, recognizing past issues with peacekeeping operations in Haiti, proposed deploying a non-U.N. multinational force under a Security Council mandate and visited the Caribbean in July to lobby reluctant leaders for their support.
The Multinational Security Support Mission will not technically be a U.N. mission, meaning member countries are not obligated to contribute toward its cost. According to the resolution, the force would be funded by voluntary contributions from countries, and authorization would initially be for a…
