UN official says Haiti’s anti-gang force set to nearly triple

More than a year after the UN Security Council authorised a multinational Gang Suppression Force for Haiti, only a fraction of it is deployed, but a UN official tells Al Jazeera that is about to change. Daniela Kroslak, head of the UN Support Office in Haiti, says close to 1,600 troops are currently on the ground, short of the planned 5,500, but that number should almost triple over the coming months.

Kroslak describes Haiti’s crisis as one of governance and state authority that also threatens the wider region, since the gangs operate through criminal networks with cross-border reach. Asked what worries her most, she points to gangs expanding into new territory, but says she takes hope from the scale of effort now going into deploying and equipping the force.

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports.

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Source: Al Jazeera (video)