Haiti

[Schneemann]

Haiti’s Crisis Escalates

The country’s unelected leader has approved a call for a foreign military intervention. Such incursions have a fraught history. [...]

After weeks of escalating gang violence and the resurgence of cholera in the country, Haiti’s unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry, and several of his officials last Friday authorized a request for a foreign military intervention. U.S. and U.N. officials said they were considering Henry’s request.

Henry has been in power since July 2021, when former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. Moïse had tapped Henry as prime minister shortly before his killing but had not yet sworn him in. Foreign powers including the United States backed Henry over a challenger and have subsequently supported him; there is no caretaker president serving alongside Henry. [...] Henry’s call for a foreign “specialized armed force” said it aimed to stop the “criminal actions of armed gangs” and a “complete asphyxiation of the national economy,” according to The Associated Press. On Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres asked the Security Council to consider the request, suggesting a rapid-action response force from one or more countries rather than a U.N. peacekeeping mission. On Wednesday, U.S. diplomats and military officials traveled to Haiti for emergency meetings, and a U.S. Coast Guard ship sailed to a location off the country’s coast to show “resolve,” the Biden administration said.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/10/14/hai...test062921

Schneemann