UN Security Council to meet on spiraling Haiti crisis

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday on violence-wracked Haiti, where marauding gangs are threatening a bloody civil war unless absent Prime Minister Ariel Henry steps down.

The armed groups, which control swaths of the country, launched a coordinated effort to oust Henry on Thursday, with Port-au-Prince's airport, prisons, police stations and other strategic targets coming under attack since.

Powerful gang leader Jimmy Cherizier warned Tuesday that the current chaos would lead into civil war and "genocide" unless the prime minister steps down.

"If Ariel Henry doesn't resign, if the international community continues to support him, we'll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide," Cherizier, known as "Barbecue," told reporters in the capital.

In power since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, Henry was due to step down in February but instead agreed to a power-sharing deal with the opposition until new elections are held.

At least 15,000 people have fled the worst-hit parts of Port-au-Prince, and United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned Wednesday the situation was "beyond untenable" with 1,193 people killed countrywide this year by gang violence.

Amid the latest unrest, Henry has been unable to return home.

He had been in Kenya to push for the deployment of a UN-backed multinational police mission to help stabilize his country when the attempt to oust him began.

Gunfire has shut down some flights at Toussaint Louverture International Airport, and he was denied permission to land in neighboring Dominican Republic, according to Dominican media.

He briefly touched down in the US territory of Puerto Rico, a spokesperson for the island's governor said Tuesday, although it was not clear how long he was staying there.

  Gangs rule the streets 

 Haitian officials have been pleading for months for international assistance to help their overwhelmed security forces, as gangs use shocking violence to push beyond the city and into rural areas.

The government has declared a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew, which has been extended through Wednesday.

Citing the "rapidly deteriorating security situation," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called this week for urgent financial support for the multinational police mission.

Maria Isabel Salvador, the UN representative in Haiti, will brief the Security Council remotely during its closed-door meeting Wednesday afternoon.

"Hundreds of thousands of children and families are displaced and cut off from lifesaving services and aid as armed groups rule the streets," Catherine Russell, head of UNICEF, said Tuesday. "The world must not stand idle."

Haiti, the Western hemisphere's poorest nation, has been in turmoil for years, and Moise's assassination plunged the country further into chaos.

No elections have taken place since 2016 and the presidency remains vacant.

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Washington had asked Henry to "move forward on a political process" that would lead to elections.

Between violence, the political crisis and years of drought, some 5.5 million Haitians -- about half the population -- need humanitarian assistance.

The UN appeal for $674 million in funding for the Caribbean nation this year is only about 2.5 percent funded.

After months of delays, the UN Security Council finally gave its greenlight in October for a multinational policing mission led by Kenya.

But that deployment has been stalled by Kenyan courts.

Nairobi and Port-au-Prince signed a bilateral agreement on Friday on the mission, but it remains without a firm start date.