UN Extends Haiti Security Force Mandate Ahead of Elections

The United Nations Security Council voted Tuesday to extend the mandate of the international Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti for another six months as the country prepares for its first elections in a decade amid persistent gang violence.

Twelve Security Council members supported the extension, while China, Russia and Pakistan abstained. No country voted against the measure. Representatives of the three abstaining nations raised concerns about the mission’s funding, troop levels and effectiveness.

The GSF mandate will now run through March 31, 2027. Haiti is scheduled to hold elections on December 13, with final results expected by March 7.

Haiti requested international security assistance in 2022 as heavily armed gangs expanded their control across the Caribbean nation. Despite multiple international interventions, armed groups continue to dominate significant areas, while the GSF remains at less than 30% of its planned strength.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said roughly 1,500 GSF personnel are currently deployed in Haiti, with another 4,000 expected to arrive in the coming months.

“Seven missions have been dedicated to Haiti over the previous decades and obviously to limited success,” Waltz said, adding that the latest effort is designed to take a different approach.

The Security Council vote came hours after gang members attacked communities in Haiti’s agricultural heartland, burning homes and killing at least 11 people. A local mayor said the violence followed a GSF operation that killed three gang members while targeting illegal toll booths.

The latest attack follows a massacre in Kenscoff, near the capital, where at least 47 people were killed and about 50 others kidnapped a month earlier.

The GSF was established last year after a Kenyan-led security mission struggled with inadequate voluntary contributions and troop shortages. Those forces withdrew earlier this year.

Haiti’s worsening security crisis has repeatedly delayed elections and destabilized successive transitional governments. Nearly 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes as gang violence continues to spread, adding urgency to efforts to improve security before December’s vote.