UN mission goes after Haitian gangs with backing from Canada

Detailed summary

What’s been cast as a last-ditch effort by the United Nations to stabilize Haiti is being bankrolled in large part by Canada.

Four Salvadoran soldiers disappeared last month after a firefight in an area of the Haitian capital controlled by powerful gangs, gone without a trace but for the charred hull of their armoured vehicle.

A planned recovery mission has turned to one of retribution. A massive troop surge has been followed by missile strikes on the headquarters of a prominent gang leader, with the devastation captured in videos and posted to social media channels of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s charismatic president.

“We are not invaders. We are people with the same courage as you,” Bukele wrote in a message addressed to the Haitian people. “We will help you take back your country … and finally, Haiti will be free.”

It has all the daring and drama of a blockbuster action film. But it’s the backdrop to what’s been cast as a last-ditch effort to stabilize Haiti — one being bankrolled in large part by Canada.

This week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio singled out Canada for praise at a G7 foreign minister’s meeting in Paris, where Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand led a session focused on Haiti.

“The Canadians deserve a lot of credit,” he said. “They’ve really stepped up. They’ve been a big catalyst in the work that’s been done.”

Canada has been the largest financial backer of the United Nations-backed mission to deploy a gang suppression force, tasked with beating back the gangs in Haiti and creating space for its government to assert control over the country, according to UN figures.

Ottawa has contributed about $85 million of the $225 million pledged so far for the force and the multinational security support mission that preceded it — nearly double that of the second-largest contributor, Germany.

Anand said in Paris that the American praise comes from her fundraising work as well as her efforts getting countries to commit troops for the gang suppression force, which is authorized to deploy up to 5,500 troops in Haiti.

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