SANTO DOMINGO, March 17 (Reuters) - The U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force - an international mobilization intended to help Haiti's police fight powerful armed gangs in the Caribbean country - should fully deploy by October this year, Roberto Alvarez, foreign minister of the neighboring Dominican Republic, said on Tuesday.
Alvarez, who spoke after a meeting with U.S. embassy officials, said new troops from Chad are now being trained in the United States and the Kenyan police who deployed to Haiti under an earlier model of the force should withdraw gradually.
NEW DEPLOYMENTS
* "These Chadian forces are training in the United Statesright now," Alvarez said, adding the Kenyans forces would withdraw gradually. * "It will not be immediate but will give time for the newforces to arrive and familiarize themselves," he said. * Alvarez said deployments should begin from the start ofApril and the force should reach its full capacity of 5,500 byOctober this year. * U.N. officials had earlier said the full deploymentshould arrive by summer or autumn this year. * The force's initial 12-month mandate expires at the endof September 2026, but the U.N. Security Council may vote torenew it. * A spokesperson for the Gang Suppression Force did notimmediately respond to a request for comment.
CONTEXT
* The Gang Suppression Force was introduced as a largersuccessor to the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Supportmission, but no significant deployments have arrived since itsapproval September last year. * Currently, the force is made up of mostly Kenyan police,as well as smaller numbers from a handful of countries inCentral America and the Caribbean. * The previous mission was hamstrung by lack of troops,funds and equipment. Both the GSF and MSS rely on voluntarycontributions from member states. * Chad in October 2023 told the U.N. it was willing tocontribute troops and police to the MSS, without specifyingnumbers or a timeline. At the time, the U.N. also receivedsimilar pledges from Benin and Bangladesh. None have so fardeployed. * Thousands of Haitians have been killed and over a million displaced in clashes between security forces and gangs that arelargely armed with guns trafficked from the U.S.
(Reporting by Jesus Frias and Sarah Morland; Editing by Kylie Madry and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez)
