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Report: Killing Haiti gang members is short-term solution; groups must be dismantled

As the United States prepares to bolster Haiti’s fight against increasingly brutal armed gangs, a new report is urging officials and mission planners to heed the lessons of the recent Kenya-led security mission and warns that suppressing gangs cannot be reduced solely to killing their members.

Soup, cassava, now konpa: Haitian music makes UNESCO ‘cultural heritage’ list

on Wednesday, both the sound known as konpa or konpa direk — and the country where the rhythm was born 70 years ago — got some good news: The music was inscribed in UNESCO’s coveted list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Haiti secures major troop offers for new anti-gang fighting force

Haiti’s new Gang Suppression Force appears poised to meet its ambitious target of 5,500 troops, after a number of nations, including Chad and Bangladesh, offered to deploy soldiers, engineers and police offices to help the country’s beleaguered security forces combat armed gangs.

Haiti’s Sunrise Airways suspends domestic flights after bullet hits aircraft

A domestic flight was struck by bullets on Sunday while landing at the Guy Malary terminal of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, sources told the Miami Herald. The aircraft, operated by Sunrise Airways, was arriving from Les Cayes in the country’s southwest region. No injuries were reported.

Haiti’s elections council has submitted an election law, and people are worried

As U.S. pressure mounts for Haiti’s transitional authorities to move the country toward long-overdue elections, human rights advocates are warning that a critical gap in a proposed election decree leaves the door wide open for gang members and bad actors who have never been convicted in Haiti, to run for office.

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Haïti : le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU examine lundi la situation sécuritaire et les préparatifs électoraux

Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies tiendra lundi 19 octobre une séance publique consacrée à Haïti, suivie de consultations à huis clos, avec au programme la dégradation de la situation sécuritaire, le déploiement de la Force de répression des gangs (GSF) et les incertitudes entourant l’organisation des prochaines élections. Selon Security Council Report, publié le 16 octobre, trois responsables onusiens sont susceptibles de présenter un état des lieux : Carlos Ruiz Massieu, représentant spécial du secrétaire général et chef du Bureau intégré des Nations unies en Haïti (BINUH) ; Jack Christofides, représentant spécial pour la GSF ; et Daniela Kroslak, secrétaire générale adjointe et cheffe du Bureau de soutien des Nations unies en Haïti (UNSOH), dont la participation au briefing reste possible.

Martelly puts elections rumors to rest, registers to run for Haiti presidency

Former Haitian President Michel Martelly has registered to run for the presidency of the Caribbean nation, joining a growing list of candidates hoping to lead a troubled Haiti despite facing sanctions from the United States, Canada and the European Union — or in the case of the former singer, all three. Martelly’s name was among 16 listed Friday on the Provisional Electoral Council’s website as having preliminary registered to run. The list also includes another former president, Jocelerme Privert, and a former member of the lower house of Parliament, Gary Bodeau. Privert who oversaw the country’s last general elections in 2016, has been sanctioned by Canada. Bodeau has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under a federal act that targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption, and faces Canadian sanctions as well.

Exclusive: Inside Erik Prince’s secretive operation taking on Haiti’s gangs (CNN)

Prince would not disclose the annual fee he receives for work with the Task Force, claiming only that it is a “fraction” of the cost of the short-lived Multinational Security Support mission — an initiative backed financially and logistically by the United States, that once envisaged 5,500 foreign police in Port-au-Prince. “Our cost is one-sixth of what their annual camp cost was,” Prince said. The sum is likely in the tens of millions of dollars. His income will be augmented by a deal to help control Haiti’s porous border with the Dominican Republic for the next 10 years in return for 10% of any new customs revenue collected. The long-term contract has raised criticism locally of how Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé is using his mandate as interim leader.

Haïti au cœur des préoccupations sécuritaires de Washington : plus de 340 millions de dollars annoncés pour les Caraïbes, mais quelle part pour Port-au-Prince...

Les États-Unis ont annoncé, le 15 octobre, plus de 340 millions de dollars de nouveaux engagements financiers en faveur des Caraïbes, destinés notamment à la sécurité portuaire, au renforcement des forces de l’ordre, aux infrastructures numériques et aux capacités sanitaires. Derrière cette enveloppe régionale, Haïti occupe une place particulière : lors de l’ouverture du Dialogue États-Unis-Caraïbes, le vice-secrétaire d’État américain Christopher Landau a directement évoqué les armes acheminées vers le territoire haïtien depuis les États-Unis et les démarches entreprises par Washington pour tenter d’endiguer ces flux.