April 16, 2025
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed deep concern over the alarming delays in Haiti’s political transition. In a report addressed to the UN Security Council on January 15, 2025, he emphasized that the country risks failing to meet the objectives set out in the governance agreement signed on March 11, 2024. This agreement aimed to restore democratic institutions by February 2026, a deadline now in jeopardy due to mounting delays.
Persistent disagreements between authorities and various stakeholders over key issues, such as power-sharing and mechanisms to strengthen transitional governance, have significantly hindered progress. Antonio Guterres also highlighted allegations of corruption, which undermine public trust in the transition process. He urged Haitian leaders to uphold the agreed-upon principles, stressing the importance of transparency and integrity to ensure the process’s credibility.
The Secretary-General drew a troubling connection between political failures and the surge in violence in Haiti. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, the country has been mired in a political transition lasting nearly four years. This instability has fueled the emergence of extreme violence, particularly by armed gangs. In 2024 alone, an estimated 5,000 people lost their lives due to these conflicts.
Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the massacres carried out by gangs in neighborhoods such as Wharf Jérémie in Cité-Soleil and Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite. He lamented the brutality and scale of the violence inflicted on local populations, describing these acts as atrocities. The combination of violence and political deadlock has made the humanitarian and security situation in Haiti particularly dire.
Additionally, the Secretary-General expressed fears of a catastrophic collapse of Haiti’s national security institutions amid underfunding of the MMAS (Mission Multidimensionnelle d’Appui à la Stabilité en Haïti) and the escalating gang violence.
Despite these challenges, the political agreement still envisions the transfer of power to elected leaders by February 7, 2026. However, without a significant acceleration of efforts and resolution of internal tensions, this goal appears increasingly difficult to achieve. Both the international community and the Haitian people are awaiting concrete actions to help the country emerge from this prolonged crisis.
