Security Council renews Haiti gang task force as mission remains under-strength

The United Nations Security Council voted on Tuesday to keep an international security force operating in Haiti for another six months, extending the mandate of the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) until March 31, 2027. The renewal comes as civilians face record levels of gang violence and the deployment remains far below the troop strength its backers say it needs.

The resolution was adopted after a debate that laid bare lingering doubts about the value of foreign military involvement in the Caribbean nation. China, Russia and Pakistan abstained from the vote, each raising concerns about whether the measure would actually work. Gang violence has remained stubbornly persistent in Haiti, with large swathes of the capital, Port-au-Prince, effectively under the control of organised criminal networks.

Supporters of the mission argue that what distinguishes the GSF from earlier efforts is the scope of its authority. Previous deployments, including a police-support mission that preceded it, were designed mainly to assist Haiti's domestic National Police. Under its current mandate, the GSF can coordinate directly with the country's military or, if needed, conduct operations on its own.

"We're trying to do something genuinely different," said Mike Waltz, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, who co-sponsored the resolution. "Seven missions have been dedicated to Haiti over the previous decades, and obviously to limited success."

Waltz said roughly 1,500 GSF personnel are on the ground in Haiti at present, with the remaining 4,000 due to arrive over the coming months. Even with those reinforcements, the force is operating at about 30 percent of its intended size, a shortfall that echoes the difficulties that have dogged international efforts in the country.

The GSF has had to contend with obstacles familiar from previous missions, including gaps in staffing and persistent questions about funding. Those same problems brought an earlier chapter in Haiti's security saga to an end: the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission, authorised to bolster the National Police, wound down in April after shortfalls in personnel and money, with its resources shifting over to the GSF.

Criticism of the renewal extends beyond logistics. Some observers remain deeply uneasy about the prospect of expanding international intervention, citing Haiti's long history of abuse and instability associated with outside military involvement. That history gives opponents of the resolution ample material to argue that another foreign force will not resolve — and may deepen — the country's problems.

Haiti's government has been asking for international security assistance since 2022, arguing that outside help is indispensable if nationwide elections are ever to be held. It has pressed that case publicly in recent weeks, formally calling on the international community to renew the anti-gang task force.

The electoral timetable, however, remains a distant prospect. Haiti has gone nearly a decade without national elections, the last democratically elected senators having seen their terms expire in 2023. A transitional presidential council was established in 2024, only for its mandate to lapse before it could organise a vote. National polls have been postponed repeatedly, with the next round now tentatively scheduled for December.

Underlying the security crisis is a prolonged power vacuum. Criminal groups grew markedly more powerful in the years after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, which removed the country's leader and destabilised institutions. Analysts say gangs have exploited both the political instability and the resulting crisis of governmental legitimacy to broaden their reach far beyond the capital, extending their influence across Haitian territory.

That expansion has triggered a wave of displacement and bloodshed. More than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes. Between April and June alone, the United Nations documented 1,408 killings and more than 650 injuries linked to gang violence — figures that underscore the scale of the challenge the renewed mandate is meant to confront.

The Security Council vote came just a day after gangs killed at least 11 people and set fire to homes and other buildings in the Artibonite region. A local mayor described the attack as retaliation for the killing of three gang members by GSF forces, an episode that highlights the friction between the mission and the communities it operates in.

Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé used the recent gathering of world leaders at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly to keep the spotlight on Haiti's plight. Speaking at UN headquarters in New York on September 25, he framed the country's instability as a matter of international concern, with the arguments for continued international engagement delivered to a global audience.

The renewal buys the GSF time, but not certainty. With the force less than a third of its intended strength, questions of funding and recruitment are likely to resurface long before the mandate expires again in March 2027. And with elections repeatedly deferred and gang territory holding steady, the mission's early test will be whether an expanded mandate — and eventually a full-strength deployment — can alter the trajectory of violence that has defined Haiti since 2021.