The US mulls a peacekeeping operation for Haiti to secure money and equipment to fight gangs

The U.S. is mulling a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Haiti as one way to secure funding and staffing for a Kenya-led mission deployed to quell gang violence in the Caribbean country, a top U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

Brian A. Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, spoke hours after The Miami Herald reported that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is considering the possibility of a traditional U.N. peacekeeping operation given the limited funding and equipment available to the current mission.

“A (peacekeeping operation) is one of the ways we could accomplish that,” Nichols told reporters. “But we are looking at multiple ways.”

The U.N. Security Council would ultimately have to vote on a peacekeeping mission. But experts have said it’s unlikely it would support one, and note many Haitians would likely balk at it given the introduction of cholera and sexual abuse cases that occurred when U.N. troops were last in Haiti.

When asked about a possible peacekeeping mission, a U.N. spokesman said only that, “It would be a decision of the Security Council."

Nichols noted that the current U.N.-backed mission to Haiti depends on voluntary contributions, with the U.S. and Canada providing the bulk of the funding so far.

Some 400 Kenyan police are currently in Haiti, but the mission also calls for the deployment of police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica for a total of 2,500 personnel. They would be deployed in phases that would cost roughly $600 million a year. Currently, the U.N. has $85 million in pledges for the mission, out of which $68 million has been received.

Contributions to the U.N. fund for the mission, however, have been limited, and