United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says he’s prepared to do what is necessary to address the disastrous gang and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Haiti once there is agreement between the Haitian government and the U.N. Security Council on the next steps to take.

But he still doesn’t understand why there is no money to support the current Kenya-led armed mission, which was launched as an informal security mission that operates only on voluntary contributions from the international community.

“We see crises, wars, arms proliferation,” Guterres said, “there’s always billions and billions of dollars available to do what needs to be done. However, when it comes to just a small operation in Haiti, where all it takes is just a few hundred millions of dollars in order to guarantee the presence of this mission, there’s no money for that, and that’s something I can’t accept. And then, we say, ‘Well, since there’s no money, let’s bring in a peacekeeping operation, because then we have mandatory contributions for that.’ But I must say, for me, it’s a moral issue.”

“If the Security Council and the Haitian government are agreeable and there’s no other solution, then in that case, we are prepared to work in line with the mandate of the Security Council,” Guterres added.

The United States, which is the largest contributor of the current Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti, is seeking to transform the current mostly police-led mission into a formal U.N. peacekeeping operation. That designation would open the door to adding more military troops to the effort and — perhaps more important —- guaranteed financial support from U.N. member states and standard equipment like helicopters, which the current MSS mission doesn’t have.

The push for a peacekeeping elevation comes as the mission struggles to help the Haitian national police make significant strides against armed gangs and a funding shortfall that has led to a lack of equipment and security personnel in Haiti. Of the 2,500 security personnel envisioned for the mission, there are currently just over 400 in Haiti including 25 Caribbean soldiers and police officers who arrived last week to join just under 400 Kenyan police officers who began deploying in June.

Currently, Washington relies on voluntary contributions to a U.N. controlled Trust Fund, which has only generated a little more than $84 million. The U.S. itself has provided more than $300 million for the operation, which the State Department said needs around $400 million a year to operate. The Kenyans have estimated a much higher budget of $600 million a year.

Guterres has been a leading support of an armed international response to the situation in Haiti, which he described as “one of the most disastrous humanitarian situations in the whole world.”

“I must say that it’s really quite difficult to understand the fact that we’ve got to the point where we’re talking about a peacekeeping operation where there’s no peace to be maintained, no peace to keep there, in a situation where it’s impossible to find the money required for one of the most disastrous humanitarian situations in the whole world, to be perfectly honest ... for me, this is something that I’m really struggling to understand,” he said.

In addition to armed gangs that have taken over much of Haiti’s capital, the country has more than 5 million people who are struggling to find food. The U.N. said this week that a $674 million appeal for humanitarian appeal has received less than $300 million with just 39% funding. Meanwhile, a fresh wave of violence in Cité Soleil, the capital’s biggest shantytown by rival gangs, has forced another 2,000 people from their homes, bringing the total number of displaced in Port-au-Prince alone to 173,000. Overall there are nearly 600,000 people displaced throughout the country by the ongoing gang violence.

Ahead of last October’s vote by the U.N. Security Council to approve the deployment of the Kenya-led MSS mission for a year, Guterres traveled to both Port-au-Prince and Trinidad to lobby for support both in terms of funding, equipment and security personnel.

Addressing the press ahead of next week’s Summit of the Future during the ongoing 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly high-level debate in New York, he said he is personally struggling to support the lack of financial response to the Haitian crisis.

“This is something that’s been going on for over a century, and what would be good would be if the countries could assume the responsibility of properly funding the ongoing operation in Haiti,” he said. “I must say that for me, it’s absolutely incomprehensible when people tell me that there isn’t enough money.”

“If you take a bank that’s close to here that’s at risk of going bankrupt,” he said as an example, “billions and billions and billions of dollars will be mobilized to save that bank.”

Both Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille and Edgard Leblanc Fils, the head of the nine-member Transitional Presidential Council, will be in New York next week where the United States and Canada are expected to also host separate events aimed at galvanizing support for both the current mission, and a peacekeeping operation.

Earlier this month, the U.S. and Ecuador floated a resolution among Security Council members asking for a year’s extension on the current Kenya-led mission until October 2025 and to begin planning for a peacekeeping operation. It remains unclear if the resolution, which was under a tight hold, will maintain the peacekeeping language given the uncertainty around China and Russia, which have veto power, and the rapidly approaching Oct. 2 deadline for the end of the current mission’s mandate.

As the world gathers in New York to discuss the many conflicts circling the globe and the threats posed by climate change, high debt and artificial intelligence, Guterres said he also wants them to “see Haiti as a human tragedy with a very well known history and with a sense of responsibility.”

“This is something that’s been going on for over a century, and what would be good would be if the countries could assume the responsibility of properly funding the ongoing operation in Haiti,” he said. “I must say that for me, it’s absolutely incomprehensible when people tell me that there isn’t enough money.”

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