A contingent from Sri Lanka has joined the new international Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti, a spokesperson for the UN-backed entity said Thursday.
– “A contingent arrived in Port-au-Prince last night. For operational security reasons, we are not disclosing the number of personnel,” a spokesperson told AFP.
– New reinforcements are expected “in the coming weeks,” he said, as part of the ramp-up of the force, which could eventually comprise 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and soldiers, and 50 civilian staff.
– Its mission is to support the Haitian National Police to neutralize armed groups that now control a large part of the Haitian capital and several of the country’s major roads.
– It is also tasked with securing strategic infrastructure, helping restore public safety, and creating conditions necessary for holding elections.
– Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has for years suffered from instability as powerful gangs carry out rampant killings, rapes, looting and kidnappings.
– Gang violence resulted in at least 2,300 and 1,100 injuries in the first half of 2026, UN rights chief Volker Turk said last month, calling the new force “urgently needed.”
– Announced by the UN Security Council last year, the GSF is to gradually replace the under-equipped and under-funded Multinational Security Support mission (MSS).
– The GSF is intended to be more robust, but to date comprises fewer than 1,000 personnel, from Chad, Mongolia, Jamaica, Guatemala and El Salvador.
– The number of contributing countries is now six, the spokesperson said, adding that the force “continues to expand its capabilities.”
– On Wednesday, an attack on the town of Kenscoff, about 20 km south of Port-au-Prince, resulted in “deaths of several residents and the burning of several homes,” its mayor, Jean Massillon, told a local radio station on Thursday.
– Haiti has not held elections since 2016, primarily because of poor security.
– The United Nations’ 2026 humanitarian aid plan for Haiti, earmarked at $880 million, is less than one-quarter funded. In a June visit to the country, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres decried “the indifference of a world that has looked away.”