UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and Ecuador circulated a draft resolution on Friday asking the United Nations to begin planning for a U.N. peacekeeping operation to replace the Kenya-led mission now in the Caribbean nation helping police to quell gang violence.
The proposed Security Council resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, says U.N. peacekeepers are needed “in order to sustain the gains” made by the U.N.-backed multinational mission which has seen almost 400 Kenyan police deploy since June to help the Haitian National Police.
The circulation of the short resolution to all 15 council members follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Haiti on Thursday where he reaffirmed the U.S. government’s commitment to the multinational mission and pushed for long-awaited general elections.
America’s top diplomat also said a U.N. peacekeeping force was an option to address a funding crisis for the Kenya-led mission, which depends on voluntary contributions. The U.S. and Canada have provided the bulk of funds so far. Peacekeeping operations, by contrast, are funded from a special U.N. budget.
The United Nations has been involved in Haiti on and off since 1990.
A 2004 rebellion had the country on the brink of collapse, leading to deployment of a U.N. force. It helped stabilize the impoverished nation after successful elections and a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people and ended in October 2017.
But U.N. peacekeepers left under a cloud, with troops from Nepal widely blamed for introducing cholera that has killed about 10,000 people in Haiti since 2010 and other troops implicated in sexual abuse, including rape and the targeting hungry children.
Since 2017, the U.N. has had a series of small missions in Haiti. The latest, political mission, BINUH, has a mandate to advance a Haitian-led political process toward elections, the rule of law and human rights.
Many Haitians have rejected the proposal of another peacekeeping operation, given the introduction of cholera and sexual abuse cases that occurred when U.N. troops were last in Haiti. Some Haitians also see U.N. peacekeepers as an occupying force.
Haiti asked for an international force to combat gangs in 2022, and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for months for a country to lead the force before the Kenyans came forward and pledged 1,000 police. They are expected to be joined by police from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica, bringing the multinational force to 2,500 personnel..
They would be deployed in phases that would cost roughly $600 million a year. Currently, the U.N. has $85 million in pledges for the mission, out of which $68 million has been received.
The gangs have grown in power since the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and are now estimated to control up to 80% of the capital. The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.
In February, gangs launched coordinated attacks on police stations and the main international airport, which remained closed for nearly three months. They also stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
The violence subsided somewhat before the first contingent of Kenyan police arrived in late June, with Blinken noting that economic activity has restarted in some areas of Port-au-Prince, and that joint operations have led to successes including regaining control of Haiti’s biggest public hospital.
However, gangs continue to attack communities surrounding Port-au-Prince.
The draft resolution would determine that “the situation in Haiti continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security and to stability in the region.”
Extending gratitude to Kenya, it would extend the mandate of the Multinational Security Support mission until Oct. 2, 2025 while the U.N. plans a transition to a peacekeeping operation,.
Security Council experts held their first meeting on the text of the resolution Friday afternoon and negotiations are expected to continue, a council diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were private. No date has been set for a vote.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric reiterated Friday that any new peacekeeping force requires approval from the Security Council. U.N. member nations must then volunteer troops and needed equipment, and the force then needs to be deployed — all of which takes time, he said.
Kenyan police officers, part of a UN-backed multinational force, drive past residents in armored vehicles on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sunday was to be a day of relative rest for Donald Trump, a rare breather this deep into a presidential campaign. Aside from sounding off on social media, golf was on the agenda.
Then the Secret Service spotted the muzzle of a rifle sticking out of a fence in bushes at Trump's West Palm Beach golf club, and everything changed.
For the second time in just over two months, someone apparently tried to shoot Trump and came dangerously close to the former president in that effort — within 500 yards Sunday, law enforcement officials said. This time, the gunfire came from the Secret Service, before the suspect could get any shots off at his target.
The episode raised sharp questions about how to keep the former president safe -- not only while he is campaigning across the country, but while he spends time at his own clubs and properties.
Trump has had stepped-up security since the assassination attempt on him in July, when he was wounded in the ear during an attack that laid bare a series of Secret Service failures. When he has been at Trump Tower in New York, parked dump trucks have formed a wall outside the building. And at outdoor rallies, he now speaks from behind bulletproof glass.
But unlike typical VIPs, who live in private residences with tall fences, Trump, while in Florida, resides at a club open to dues-paying members, and often spends his down time at his golf courses. And this a toxic era in the nation's politics.
“The threat level is high," Rafael Barros, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Miami field office, told reporters Sunday. “We live in danger times."
Sunday in the political world opened with Trump assailing a pop star on social media who had endorsed Kamala Harris — “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” — complaining about the post office and hitting the links. Running mate JD Vance riffed on TV about that thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory concerning immigrants and pets, refusing to disown it. Democrats were apoplectic.
All that was standard fare for the most tumultuous presidential campaign in anyone’s memory. But shortly before 2 p.m., the subject abruptly changed and this election was thrust ever deeper into unprecedented territory.
Trump and golf partner Steve Witkoff were on the fifth hole of the course and about to putt when they heard the “pop, pop, pop, pop," said Fox News host Sean Hannity, a close friend of the former president who spoke with him several times afterward as well as with Witkoff.
Moments later, Hannity said, a "fast cart” with steel reinforcement and other protection whisked Trump away.
After the Secret Service noticed the rifle and then the suspect, an agent fired on him but apparently missed.
Secret Service agents immediately used their bodies to shield Trump and moved him to the golf course’s clubhouse, where he remained until he went back to Mar-a-Lago about 15 minutes away, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and described it on condition of anonymity.
About an hour later, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office were investigating an unspecified “protective incident involving former President Donald Trump," adding he was safe.
The meaning was highly unclear. It could have been an unrelated shooting or disturbance near Trump, for all the country knew at first. "There were about 20 or more cop cars flying from nearby streets,” said Max Egusquiza, of Palm Beach, describing the emergency response he witnessed.
The Trump campaign issued a statement saying “President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity." Again, no word whether he was the intended target.
But it soon became known that the Secret Service had fired shots. And about an hour after that happened, Donald J. Trump Jr. posted on X that an AK-style rifle was discovered in the bushes, “per local law enforcement."
All of that was finally followed by an FBI statement saying it is investigating "what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.”
The suspect quickly vanished but law enforcement had managed to identify his vehicle.
Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder said his deputies “immediately flooded” northbound I-95, deploying to every exit between the Palm Beach County line to the south and St. Lucie County line to the north.
The suspect was apprehended within minutes of the FBI, Secret Service and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office putting out a “very urgent BOLO” — or be-on-the-lookout alert — detailing the specific vehicle sought, license plate number and description of the driver.
“One of my road patrol units saw the vehicle, matched the tag and we set up on the vehicle,” Snyder said, “We pinched in on the car, got it safely stopped and got the driver in custody."
Snyder added: "He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights — a lot going on. He never questioned it.”
With that, police arrested Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Kaaawa, Hawaii, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials identified the suspect to AP but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
The suspect had left behind an AK-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks hanging on a fence with ceramic tile inside and a GoPro camera, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
The sheriff said the suspect was 400 to 500 yards away from Trump hidden in shrubbery, while the former president played golf on a nearby hole.
“It was certainly an interesting day! ” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night. He effusively thanked law enforcement for keeping him “SAFE.”
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Colleen Long, Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
Police crime scene vehicles are seen at Trump International Golf Club after police closed off the area following the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Laura Loomer uses her cell phone near Trump International Golf Club after police closed off the area following the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Trump was on the links taking a breather from the campaign. Then the Secret Service saw a rifle
Trump was on the links taking a breather from the campaign. Then the Secret Service saw a rifle
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at Harry Reid International Airport to board a plane after a campaign trip, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
