The UN Security Council approved this Friday unanimously the imposition of various sanctions on armed groups of Haiti that control large areas of the country, including important infrastructure and communication routes.
The sanctions include not only an arms embargo on non-state actors but also a travel ban on leaders of armed gangs, plus the freezing of their bank assets.
Leave a mois de blocage du terminal pétrolier de Varreux – the access to base services remains three limited in #Haiti More partners continue to respond to the humanitarian crisis and support the authorities in responding to cholera.https://t.co/x940In4wMk
— OCHA Haiti (@OCHAHaiti) October 12, 2022
According to a report from Ephthe fifteen members of the council, including Russia and China, who had previously shown their reservations, supported the resolution that was drafted by the United States and Mexico to try to curb the violence and thus help the Government to recover the situation at a time when which the country suffers from an outbreak of cholera.
“First of all, we seek to support Haiti in its struggle to establish peaceful coexistence and democratic governance,” said the representative of Mexico, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, who praised the inclusion of an arms embargo in the resolution.
De la Fuente stressed that “the Security Council has given a clear signal that the violence must stop and must not go unpunished. It is also important to have established an embargo on any transfer of weapons to those non-state actors who, in addition to terrorizing the civilian population, destabilize the country.”
For her part, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, stressed that the decision taken today “is an initial response to the calls for help from the Haitian people. They want us to take action against criminals, including gangs and those who finance them, who have been undermining stability and spreading poverty.”
Thomas-Greenfield added that with this resolution the UN’s highest body is sending “a clear message to the bad actors that are holding Haiti hostage,” although he assured that it is “only a first step.”
“We have a lot more work to do. Now that this council has taken decisive action to send a strong signal to the gangs and those who finance them through new targeted sanctions, we must build on these efforts to address another immediate challenge to help restore security and alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Haiti.” , he underlined.
The US diplomat was referring to the intention of the US and Mexico to present a second resolution that includes the sending of an armed force to help the island’s authorities restore security, and to which Beijing and Moscow have been reluctant until the date.
On October 17, the first military planes from the United States and Canada arrived and hundreds of people took to the streets to reject the foreign military deployment, which is the result of a formal request from the government of Haiti, a country that is also experiencing an outbreak of cholera. for which some 36 people have died, according to the CNN.
With information from Eph.
