United States to give Haiti nearly $110 million in security aid, says official

The United States (US) will give Haitinearly $110 million in security and police assistance, the news agency Reuters reported early Friday (June 21) citing a State Department official. The official said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the decision following more than 100 briefings to Congress by the State Department and that the Biden administration remained committed to working in "close consultation" with that body.

"The security situation inHaitiremains untenable due to violence perpetrated by violent gangs, and the people ofHaiticannot wait," the official said. The funds for Haiti include$95 million for security mission support and $15 million for theHaitian National Police to counter gang violence.

Republicans slam Biden administration's decision

In a statement,Senator Jim Risch, thetop Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the Biden administration's "choice to override the hold I had placed on UStaxpayer funding for the ill-conceivedHaitiMSS (Multinational Security Support Mission) is extremely disappointing."

Reuters reported that in March, Senator Risch andRepresentative Michael McCaul (theRepublican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee) saidthey had put "holds" on funds toHaitibecause they needed "a lot more details" before approving them.

The State Department said at the time it was engaging with Congress to get approval for the funds where intensifying gang violencecut off food supplies and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

Leaders of the foreign relations committees have approval power overmoney, but the administration can override their holds if it decides thesituation is extreme enough to warrant going ahead.

Gang violence in Haiti surged in late February as former prime minister Ariel Henry left the Caribbean nation to seek to speed up a promised Kenyan-led deployment of security forces to help national police fight gangs.

As gangs attacked the national palace andthousands broke from prison, Henry was unable to return and pressured to resign. Three months later, a new government was formed but the Kenyan-led deployment has yet to land.

UN warns of impact of gang war displacements

On Tuesday, the United Nations (UN) warned ofcatastrophic humanitarian consequences for the spiralling numbers ofHaitians forced to flee their homes due to the gang war.

Philippe Branchat, who heads the International Organization for Migration's (IOM)Haitiarm, said, "The figures we see today are a direct consequence of years of spiralling violence,and its catastrophic humanitarian impact."

The latest country-wide assessment from the IOM said that almost580,000 people inHaitiare internally displaced,a 60 per centincrease from 360,000 just three months earlier.

(With inputs from agencies)