THE United States is considering launching a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Haiti as one way to secure funding and staffing for a Kenya-led mission deployed to quell gang violence in the Caribbean country, a top US diplomat said on Wednesday.

US assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs Brian A Nichols spoke hours after The Miami Herald reported that President Joe Biden’s administration is considering the possibility of a traditional UN peacekeeping operation given the limited funding and equipment available to the current mission.

Mr Nichols told reporters: “A peacekeeping operation is one of the ways we could accomplish that. 

“But we are looking at multiple ways.”

The UN security council would ultimately have to vote on a peacekeeping mission. But experts have said it’s unlikely it would support one.

Many Haitians would likely oppose such a mission given the introduction of cholera and sexual abuse cases that occurred when UN troops were last in Haiti.

The US and Canada provide the bulk of funding for the Kenyan-led force that is currently in Haiti. The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica have all committed to providing police or troops for an eventual total of some 2,500 personnel.

The total cost is expected to reach the equivalent of £456 million. Currently the UN has received around £65m in pledges for the mission, out of which £52m has been received.

Haitians complain that they have not seen a decrease in gang violence since the first contingency of Kenyans arrived in late June.

“We need the rest of the international community to step forward with much more significant financial contributions so that the force can continue to operate and that additional nations can deploy their units as part of the [mission],” Mr Nichols said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to visit Haiti today to meet with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille and a transitional presidential council.