Haiti says it supports a UN peacekeeping mission to fight the country's violent gangs

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council announced Thursday that he supports a U.N. peacekeeping mission to fight gang violence still overwhelming authorities.

It was the first public support announced by a Haitian government official since the U.S. proposed a U.N. peacekeeping mission earlier this month as one way to secure more resources for a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya that officials say lacks personnel and funding.

“I am convinced that this change of status, whilst recognizing the errors of the past cannot be repeated, would guarantee the full success of the mission,” Edgard Leblanc Fils, council president, said at the U.N. General Assembly.

On Wednesday, Fils met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others to talk about the state of the mission, which started when the first contingent of Kenyan police arrived in Haiti in late June.

Nearly 400 Kenyan officers are now in Haiti, joined by nearly two dozen police officers and soldiers from Jamaica. The officers fall significantly short of the 2,500 pledged by various countries for the mission.

The U.N. Security Council would ultimately have to vote on a peacekeeping mission, and experts have said it’s unlikely it would support one. They have noted that many Haitians would likely balk at it given the introduction of cholera and sexual abuse cases that occurred when U.N. troops were last in Haiti.