Haiti: gang leader asks the UN to mediate as El Salvador sends 2,000 troops to find four missing soldiers

A Haitian gang leader wanted by the United States has written to the UN Secretary-General asking for a UN delegation to mediate, while El Salvador has sent more than 2,000 troops into Haiti to search for four of its soldiers who disappeared in a gang ambush, according to UN News.

The four Salvadoran soldiers were serving with the Security Council-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) when they went missing during an attack by armed groups on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince on 18 October. Media reports cited by the UN say the troops El Salvador dispatched at the end of October are on a mission to find them.

A letter to Guterres

Wilson Joseph, who leads the 400 Mawozo gang and is known as Lanmò Sanjou, asked in his letter for a UN delegation to open talks with his group. According to reports quoted by the UN, he claims to have “officially raised the white flag” and presents himself as an interlocutor for a peaceful solution. He also says he fears the Salvadoran deployment will bring more reprisals against civilians, and asserts that the four missing soldiers are dead.

Haiti’s authorities consider the soldiers missing, while the government of El Salvador believes they are still alive, UN News reports.

The 400 Mawozo gang is based in Croix-des-Bouquets, northeast of the capital, and kidnapped 17 missionaries from the United States and Canada in October 2021. The FBI offers a $1 million reward for information leading to Joseph’s arrest.

The United Nations distanced itself from the letter. Secretary-General’s spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday evening that receipt of the letter “does not constitute an endorsement of its contents, nor an acknowledgment of its author, nor a position taken by the United Nations”.

Salvadoran troops outside the GSF

The GSF is authorised to field 5,500 personnel, but its strength remains well below that target. Dujarric said the “vast majority” of the additional 2,000 Salvadoran troops in Haiti are not deployed under the force. He added that all security operations in Haiti, whether under the GSF or by national authorities and their partners, must comply with international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Civilians bear the cost

Gangs control most of Port-au-Prince. The UN says more than 5,700 people were killed or injured between January and mid-September this year, and nearly 1.5 million Haitians have been forced from their homes. Around 6.4 million people, more than half of the population, need humanitarian assistance.

On 19 October the UN told the Security Council that armed groups were adapting to the intensified security operations, stepping up reprisals against civilians and extending their reach into rural areas, with elections on hold. Geopolitiki has earlier covered the council’s work on the country, including UN Security Council renews Haiti sanctions for a year, with 14 votes in favour and a Russian abstention and UK at the Security Council on Haiti: insecurity must not outpace political progress, with gang rape figures and a warning on candidate eligibility.