Excerpt: “Despite several positive political developments in Haiti, a worsening security situation — compounded by organized crime — has resulted in death, displacement and crisis in the country, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, urging international support to make progress on these intertwined fronts. Meanwhile, delegates discussed the country’s request for a UN peacekeeping operation to replace the newly deployed Kenyan-led security mission. ‘I come before you hopeful for the signs of progress in the political front, despite serious setbacks in the security one,’ said Maria Isabel Salvador, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). On the latter, she reported on armed gangs’ targeting of commercial aircraft near the Port-au-Prince international airport, subsequent coordinated gang attacks across the capital — which triggered violent responses from self-defence groups — and mass killings by armed gangs in Wharf Jérémie.”