UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The current international “stalemate” over sending a security force to stabilise Haiti may be broken if a credible plan is found for the crisis-wracked country’s political future, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.
Guterres and Haitian leaders have pushed for months for a new international mission to stabilise the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, which has not held national elections since 2016 and has been wracked by gang violence, a worsening public health situation and political instability.
“There is indeed some reluctance from the countries that have a stronger capacity to be able to lead this kind of operation,” Guterres said at a press conference in Kingston alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
“The only way in my opinion to overcome this reluctance… is to put in place a political process that is credible,” said Gutteres, who described the current situation as “kind of a stalemate.”
“We have a political problem, the need to bring the different stakeholders together to find the political way for a legitimate government to be recognised by all,” said Guterres.
Several nations including Canada, the United States (US) and France have said they support the idea of an intervention effort, but none has yet offered to lead it.
