Haitian gang leader asks UN to mediate as El Salvador sends troops to find missing soldiers

A Haitian gang leader wanted by the United States has asked the UN to mediate. At the same time, El Salvador is sending more than 2,000 troops into the country to search for four of its soldiers who went missing after a gang ambush.

Gangs control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have terrorized Haitians for years as they fight over territory and resources. The UN Security Council-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) was set up to take on the gangs, protect vital infrastructure and get humanitarian aid moving. The four Salvadoran soldiers, who were serving with the force, disappeared during an attack by armed groups on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince on 18 October. Media reports said the troops El Salvador sent at the end of October are on a mission to rescue them.

Wilson Joseph, who is one of Haiti's most feared gang leaders, has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres calling for dialogue with international forces in the country. He presents himself as an interlocutor ready to negotiate peace. Joseph, nicknamed Lanmò Sanjou, leads the 400 Mawozo gang, which is notorious for carrying out kidnappings for ransom. According to reports, he claimed to have "officially raised the white flag" and asked that a UN delegation be sent to engage in discussions with his group.

The UN confirmed on Monday evening, in an account carried by UN News, that it had received the letter but distanced itself from the contents. "The receipt of such a letter does not constitute an endorsement of its contents, nor an acknowledgment of its author, nor a position taken by the United Nations," said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General, in a note to the press.

Joseph's letter is his own account. The UN note records that the letter arrived and does not say that talks will follow, and it does not report that the four soldiers have been found.