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'Catastrophic' Collapse of National Security Institutions Feared in Haiti

In preparation for the Jan. 22 UN Security Council’s meeting on Haiti, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a dire report warning that without an increase in the number of police participating in the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) operating in Haiti to combat violent gangs, there could be “a catastrophic collapse of national security institutions.” This, he warned, “could allow the gangs to overrun the entire metropolitan area (Port-au-Prince) resulting in a complete breakdown of state authority and rendering international operations, including those to support communities in need, untenable in the country,” reported U.S. National Public Radio on Jan. 23.

The Kenyan-led MSS was conceived of by former Secretary of State Tony “Bloody” Blinken in a haphazard way, to prove that the “international community” was really going to help Haiti. But from the get-go, it was undermanned, underequipped and underfunded, with the U.S. as its sole financier. It currently numbers 790 police officers, a far cry from the 2,500 promised, and suffers low morale stemming from irregular payment of salaries and lack of equipment. It hasn’t made a dent in the gang problem.

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