The United States has received pledges of up to 7,500 security personnel for a gang suppression force in Haiti, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.

The U.N. Security Council agreed at the end of September to more than double the size of a 15-month-old, underfunded and understaffed international security mission combating armed gangs in Haiti and rename it a gang suppression force.

“We were looking for 5,500 forces. We already have pledges of up to 7,500 forces from a variety of countries. We’ve seen donors step up to fund that effort,” Rubio told reporters.

Gangs – largely armed with illicit weapons from the U.S. – have seized almost all of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince in a conflict that has forced 1.3 million people from their homes, and fueled hunger. UNICEF said in August that children make up an estimated 50% of gang members in the Caribbean country.

The U.S. and Canada hosted a closed-door pledging conference for the gang suppression force at the United Nations on December 9. They said in a statement that 18 entities had pledged personnel, resources and technical support.

The initial, Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission deployed in Haiti in June 2024 but has struggled to make headway in curbing violent armed gangs – some of which Washington has designated as terrorist organizations.

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(Reporting by Simon Lewis; writing by Michelle Nichols; editing by Mark Heinrich)