US official rejects reports that multinational Haiti force is ‘in trouble’

A State Department official on Wednesday rejected recent reports that a U.S.-led effort to send a multinational military force to Haiti is “in trouble,” Reuters reported.

“I strongly disagree with the idea that a resolution authorizing a multinational force is in peril,” Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols told reporters, according to Reuters. 

McClatchy and the Miami Herald reported on Tuesday that the U.S. was considering scrapping a potential U.N. resolution to send an international force to Haiti because no country had stepped forward to provide troops. The U.S. has reportedly not volunteered its own troops.

However, Nichols denied the reports and said the effort remains “very much on schedule.”

“I’m confident that we will have something early in November, both a resolution and leadership for the force,” he said.

Haiti is currently facing a humanitarian crisis amid a blockade of a key fuel terminal by a group of armed gangs. The blockade has led to fuel shortages, halting transport and creating food and water shortages, according to Reuters.

The U.S. and Canada sent armored vehicles to Haiti earlier this month after the Haitian government issued a call for foreign help. The U.N. Security Council also adopted a resolution on Friday, demanding an end to the violence and sanctioning the leader of the alliance of gangs known as G9.