By Vibhu MishraNEW YORK, USA – The UN Security Council on Tuesday authorized a new multinational Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti to replace the Kenyan-led security support mission, amid escalating gang violence, widespread rights abuses and a humanitarian emergency affecting all aspects of life in the island nation. The Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, authorised by the Security Council in October 2023, faced chronic underfunding, insufficient personnel, and limited operational capacity, making it difficult to contain gangs that now control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Haiti is not aloneIntroducing the text in the Council, ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba of Panama emphasised the urgency of international support. “Since last year, this Council has requested the secretary-general to put forward recommendations to address the multidimensional crisis in Haiti … Haiti is facing an unprecedented, multi-dimensional crisis that requires our decisive attention,” he said. The GSF is intended to support Haitian authorities while creating conditions for the country to gradually assume full security responsibility.