On 21 April, the UN Security Council examined the situation in Haiti. Since February, organized crime groups have launched coordinated attacks to expand territorial control and undermine state authority, killing 1,086 people in two months.

Director of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) Ecuadorian María Isabel Salvador (photo) confirmed that the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMAS) has so far deployed in only 40 percent of the territory, leaving the rest of the country under gang domination.

☞ Remember that MMAS is not a UN force, but a Kenyan one, deployed at the request of the United States with a UN mandate.

The Chinese delegation invited the “sovereign nation” of Haiti to form a legitimate government without delay and to stop relying on systematic help from abroad. It also accused the U.S. of longstanding interference in Haitian affairs. Having orchestrated the installation of a new government a year ago, Washington is now “turning a blind eye, despite the chaos”, by not actually enforcing the arms embargo it agreed to impose. The result is that the gangs are better equipped than the Haitian National Police, while most of the weapons arriving in Haiti come from the United States.

The French delegation also confirmed its intention to continue the “work of remembrance” initiated by President Emmanuel Macron, who announced on April 17 the creation of a joint Franco-Haitian commission in charge of studying the debt retroactively demanded by King Charles X for the liberation of slaves.

This is the editorial from our paywalled “Voltaire, international newsletter”, n°130. For more information, do not hesitate to subscribe: 500€ per year.