Security Council gives UN chief 30 days to come up with options on how to fight Haiti’s armed gangs

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has asked the secretary-general to come up within 30 days with options to help combat Haiti’s armed gangs and restore security in the conflict-torn nation. He said they should include a non-U.N. multinational force, a possible U.N. peacekeeping force, training the country’s police and tackling illegal arms trafficking. A resolution adopted unanimously by the council on Friday also authorizes up to 70 U.N. police and corrections advisers to scale up support and training for Haiti’s understaffed and underfunded national police force. And it “encourages” countries especially in the Caribbean region to respond to appeals from Haiti’s prime minister and from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the deployment of an international specialized force.