United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Haiti on Tuesday and spent the first part of his visit touring the base of the newly established Gang Suppression Force, the international community’s latest effort to help Haiti confront its worsening crisis.

The U.N. chief, who had advocated for a new funding mechanism to help Haiti address its worsening crisis, was briefly greeted by Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, his foreign minister Raina Forbin and the head of the new U.N. Support Office, Daniela Kroslak. Then they boarded an armored vehicle to the force’s base, which now houses hundreds of soldiers from Chad.

The Chadians are the latest contingents to be deployed to Haiti, where the gang crisis has forced nearly 1.5 million Haitians from their homes and led to over 2,000 deaths this year. They join soldiers from Guatemala, El Salvador and a small contingent from Jamaica in the U.N.-authorized and U.S.-backed force that has succeeded the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission. Larger and more lethal, the Gang Suppression Force is expected to have a planned contingent of 5,000 mostly military personnel.

After greeting the troops, Guterres praised the Chadians, recalling an incident where they were attacked by terrorists in Mali and “they fought back.”

“I am very happy to see the Chadians,” he said. “They are extremely brave.”

Haiti’s spiraling gang violence has long been a concern of the U.N. chief, who began advocating for an international armed force for Haiti after gangs seized control of the fuel port.

Upon arriving in the country, Guterres said the humanitarian situation here is desperate and called on the international community to do more

“My message to the international community: Stop looking away. We must stand with Haiti.”

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