UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution to transform a UN-backed security mission in gang-dominated Haiti into a larger, full-fledged force with military troops.

The new force can now have a maximum of 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and soldiers, unlike the current mission, which is just law enforcement.

United States (US) ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the vote by 12 council members “to transform the Multinational Security Support mission to the new gang suppression force, a mission five-times the size of its predecessor” showed the “international community was sharing the burden.”

“This resolution offers Haiti hope. It is a hope that has been rapidly slipping away as terrorist gangs expanded their territory, raped, pillaged, murdered and terrorised the Haitian population,” he said.

Washington co-sponsored the enlargement push with Panama.

Currently, just 1,000 police officers, mostly from Kenya, are deployed in Haiti under the Multinational Security Mission (MSS) to support the overwhelmed Haitian police in their fight against rampant gang violence.

But the mission, which was approved in 2023, has had mixed results.

“This marks a decisive turning point in my country’s fight against one of the most serious challenges in its already turbulent history,” said Haiti’s ambassador to the UN Ericq Pierre.

“Multiple heavily armed gangs have extended their control over large parts of the territory, particularly in the capital.

“These gangs are no longer mere groups of petty criminals. They have for some time now become powerful criminal organisations that mock and challenge the authority of the state and even threaten regional stability.”

Haiti’s Laurent Saint-Cyr, who heads the country’s Transitional Presidential Council, had thrown his support behind the US and Panamanian proposal to evolve the MSS into a more resilient force for an initial period of one year.

“The Council can help restore peace in a nation currently suffocated by merciless gangs,” Panama’s ambassador to the UN Eloy Alfaro de Alba said ahead of the vote.

Kenya’s president William Ruto said last week that “with the right personnel, adequate resources, appropriate equipment and necessary logistics, Haiti’s security can be restored.”

The major force boost will be accompanied by the creation of a support office within the UN, suggested several months ago by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to provide the required logistical and financial support.

China had expressed skepticism about the role of the MSS without political transition in Haiti, but it abstained during the vote to create it in 2023, as did Russia.

China and Russia abstained again on Tuesday’s vote.

“Resorting to military force to combat violence with violence at this juncture is not only unlikely to succeed, but could further complicate Haiti’s already intractable situation,” said China’s ambassador to the UN Fu Cong.

He warned the resolution left specifics like the rules of engagement and force composition unanswered, saying Beijing did not block the resolution only “in light of Haiti’s dire security situation.”

The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has long suffered at the hands of violent criminal gangs that commit murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings against a backdrop of chronic political instability.

The situation has worsened significantly since early 2024, when gangs drove then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.

The country, which has not held elections since 2016, has since been led by a Transitional Presidential Council.