Sawt Falasteen - Dominican Republic calls for Haiti force to be strengthened

Announced by the UN Security Council last year, the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) had been expected to ramp up between April and October to a planned capacity of 5,500 uniformed personnel and 50 civilian staff.

But GSF spokesperson Igor Rugwiza has said the goal of 5,500 members could not be achieved in such a short time due to "logistical constraints."

"There has been some advances in security, but it's still frail. The force does not have enough contingencies as its mandate requires," Dominican Foreign Minister Ito Bisono said at a meeting of ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and takes an active role in efforts to stabilize its destitute neighbor.

Haiti has been wracked by deadly gang violence in recent years, with swaths of the Caribbean country controlled by heavily armed criminal syndicates which local authorities have been powerless to subdue.

"On July 8, its military component passed 1,083 people, while the authorization was 5,550," said Bisono. "It will not have full operational capacity until the last semester of this year. While this gap perseveres, we will still have the risk of losing what we've gained."

Haiti is preparing to hold its first presidential and legislative election since 2016, and a referendum on the constitution, on December 13.

The GSF replaced the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission, which was seen as under-equipped and under-funded.

It was intended to be more robust, but as of July comprised fewer than 1,000 personnel, from Chad, Mongolia, Jamaica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Sri Lanka.

US envoy to the UN Mike Waltz praised the new force in place in Haiti, which he recently visited, calling it "the real deal."

"They're securing once again critical infrastructure that the people need to live their everyday lives," he told the meeting.

But he echoed Bisono's call for the force to be beefed up.

"As pleased as we were with the (force) pledges, we need all of the countries to follow through," he said.

Negotiations for the extension of the force's mandate are underway on the UN Security Council, Waltz said.

"We need to let it get to work because, colleagues, while we debate words on paper here, the gangs are not stopping with their terror," he said.

C.Hamad--SF-PST