Haiti's prime minister says citizens can wait no longer as elections set for December 13
Alix Didier Fils-Aimé told a UN meeting that security depends on stopping illicit arms flows, as the UN warned the Gang Suppression Force is severely under-deployed.
NEW YORK, United States. Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé has said Haitians are eager to return home and vote in general elections that the United Nations says are scheduled for December 13, 2026.
The elections have been repeatedly delayed since 2019.
"There is a people, a people who can wait no longer, a people waiting to regain security, to return home to work, to send their children to school, and to freely choose their leaders," Fils-Aimé told a special meeting at the UN on Thursday, September 24, on the future of security in Haiti.
Gangs control much of the capital
The UN said armed gangs continue to "perpetrate widespread violence" and control large parts of Port-au-Prince and key transport corridors, hampering essential services and humanitarian aid.
Around 6.4 million people need humanitarian assistance and almost 1.5 million have been displaced, the UN said.
With gangs sourcing most of their weapons outside Haiti, Fils-Aimé told the meeting, hosted by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), that security depends on "our collective ability to combat the illicit flows that fuel violence: weapons, ammunition, trafficking, and transnational criminal networks".
Force under strength
Speakers broadly backed extending the mandate of the UN Security Council-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF).
However, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Haiti, said the mission was "severely under-deployed", with only 1,083 personnel on the ground instead of the 5,500 authorised, and called for full deployment as soon as possible.
Fils-Aimé said security operations were only a first step. "When an area becomes accessible again, the State and basic services need to follow," he said. He added that Haiti was training and recruiting more police and soldiers, and that two specialised judicial units were tackling impunity, financial crime and sexual violence.
ECOSOC President Amar Bendjama said protecting children from violence and gang recruitment "must be a priority across our efforts".
"Haiti's next government must come through the ballot box," Fils-Aimé said. "Electoral operations have been launched. Citizens are registering. Political organisations have also been certified."
