US freezes funding for multinational force tackling Haiti gangs

File photo: A third contingent of police officers from Kenya arrives in Port-au-Prince on January 18, 2025

The US has notified the United Nations that it is freezing some funding to a UN-backed mission in Haiti tasked with fighting gangs trying to seize back control of the capital, Port-au-Prince, the UN said Tuesday. The US has been the biggest contributor to the mission led by Kenyan police, which was launched last year and is struggling with a lack of funding.

The United States has frozen its financial contributions to a United Nations fund for a multinational security support mission in Haiti, a UN spokesperson said on Tuesday, a move that would stop $13.3 million in pending aid.

"We received an official notification from the US asking for an immediate stop work order on their contribution" to the trust fund for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, said Stephane Dujarric, the UN secretary-general's spokesperson, referring to the already underfunded Kenya-led force.

The UN Security Council gave the green light in October 2023 to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission designed to support Haiti's authorities in their fight against criminal gangs, which control swaths of the country.

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Washington's funding freeze comes as part of newly elected President Donald Trump's push to slash US overseas aid, a drive that has included an effort to shutter the operations of the government's main aid agency, USAID.

Just under 800 of the 2,500 security personnel hoped for have been deployed.

(AFP)


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