A U.S.-backed, Kenya-led international police force deployed to Haiti nearly two months ago to defeat a powerful coalition of armed gangs has struggled to achieve its mission objectives and restore order to the Caribbean nation.
A force of 400 police have been deployed to the capital, Port-au-Prince, to try to dislodge the militants, and the only two major clashes so far have both ended in failure.
The Multinational Security Assistance (MSS) mission remains underfunded and lacks the resources and necessary troops to return Haiti to normalcy, putting pressure on the international community and the United States, the operation’s main sponsor, to increase financial support.
“I think this hasn’t moved as fast as everyone expected,” said Georges Fourriol, a senior adviser in the Latin America Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “The MSS itself is like a three-legged vehicle that’s missing a wheel, and everyone’s trying to figure out whether to rebuild the whole vehicle or stop and actually add another wheel.”
Foriol said Washington is focused on two other major global conflicts, the war in Gaza and Ukraine, and Republicans have resisted sending more money to support the MSS, making it difficult to obtain more funding, especially in an election year.
“Everyone is waiting for something more to happen from the U.S.,” he said, adding that there was a perception that “the U.S. is trying not to get too involved.” [but] That’s misleading, because in reality it’s very involved.”
U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees South America and the surrounding region, said it was delivering armored and unarmored vehicles, protective equipment, riot control gear and other supplies to the MSS, with the first shipment arriving last month.
The spokesman added that Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected Vehicles were also due to be deployed soon, stressing that the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected Vehicles were a “long-term operation” that would require continued international support.
“It will take some time to achieve the operational success necessary to reverse the current security crisis and restore lasting stability to communities once exploited and victimized by ruthless gangs,” a SOUTHCOM spokesman said, noting there are already signs of progress, such as the resumption of commercial flights.
Kenya’s main mission is to train and guide the Haitian National Police (HNP) to defeat armed gangs.
But their coalition has strengthened since seizing much of Port-au-Prince earlier this year, and the UN-backed MSS will need helicopters, combat vehicles, more infrastructure and other equipment and assets if it has any chance of defeating the gang, which is estimated to have between 5,000 and 10,000 members, mostly in and around Port-au-Prince.
The MSS, which sent its first troops to Haiti at the end of June, wants to send about 2,500 troops but will need more funding to increase its current number of 400. In addition to Kenya, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica are also planning to send troops, but they are unlikely to join without sufficient resources.
So far, fighting has been limited and gang members have posed little threat from the MSS, which patrols the city but has not engaged in combat with its bases. There are up to 200 gangs in Haiti, including the 400-strong Mawozo.
In July, outside Port-au-Prince, Kenyan troops took control of the town of Gantie, near the Dominican Republic border, but gangs retook the town after the MSS withdrew.
And Haiti’s interim Prime Minister, Garry Conille, was ambushed by gangs during a visit to a hospital in Port-au-Prince in July, forcing him to flee.
Renata Segura, program director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Crisis Group, said the gangs have forged strong alliances but are not united and lack proper anti-military training.
“The challenges of policing are enormous and even well-funded and well-equipped missions have a very difficult process to defeat the gangs,” she said. “But without the funding and the necessary personnel, they don’t even have a chance of beating the gangs.”
Segura said the United States already funds much of the MSS and that European countries, in particular, should step up if the U.S. cannot commit to more funding.
Haiti has been plagued by gang violence since the assassination of its president in 2021. But gangs have grown exponentially in power since banding together in February, freeing associates from prison and forcing former prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.
Haiti has been struggling to govern since the collapse of its government. A transitional council was formed in the spring and Conille was appointed to it, but progress towards elections has stalled.
Conil He told the BBC this month He said it would be “extremely difficult” to hold elections to choose a new president next year because the situation had “not progressed very much.”
“We are still hostage to these thugs,” he said.
The United States has provided more than $300 million in funding and equipment for the mission, and Kenyan troops operate from a base in Haiti built by U.S. contractors. The only other major contributor is Canada, which has pledged about $86.2 million in direct support to the MSS.
Just weeks before his deployment, President Biden hosted Kenyan President William Ruto at the White House in May, and the two leaders pledged to eliminate gang violence.
To solve the gang problem, the MSS needs more than just money and extra police officers, said Robert Fatton Jr., a professor at the University of Virginia and an expert on Haiti.
Fatton said the final battle will be difficult with intense urban fighting. A strong Haitian government that supports and strengthens the Haitian National Party and roots out corruption is also needed, he added, pointing to allegations that some members of Haiti’s transitional government have meddled in Haitian politics. was involved in a bribery scheme.
“An extra 1,500 troops might help, they might stop the gangs going further, but the longer we wait the less legitimacy the government has,” Mr Fatton said. “The prime minister is promising all sorts of things, but [but] His promise [have] It never happened at all.
“He runs the risk of overpromising and creating disillusionment that will probably come back eventually amid greater instability,” he added. “So I’m not very optimistic unless there is legitimate change.”
The possibility of conflict in the coming months threatens to push Haiti’s already fragile state further into disarray.
Humanitarian organizations are scrambling to respond, but the protracted nature of the crisis has complicated their efforts: Previous disasters in Haiti, such as the 2010 earthquake, have never required such a large-scale, long-term response.
Aid funding remains well below limits. According to the United NationsOf the $673 million requested from the international community, only 25 percent has been met.
The violence has left thousands dead, more than half a million people displaced and millions facing severe food insecurity. The growing threat of waterborne diseases Cholera, etc.
According to the United Nations, 131 children have been killed in the first six months of this year alone – an average of five per week – while around three million children are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Gaby Breton, humanitarian director for Save the Children Haiti, said the problem is expected to get worse unless the situation improves soon.
“We really are asking for the international community’s support and more solidarity for our future children,” Breton said. “Because hunger is there, it creates a situation where people are being recruited by gangs because there is so much vulnerability.”
Previous international missions to Haiti offer a potential blueprint for restoring order, but the record is blemished.
Brazil led the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti from 2004 to 2017, at one point sending around 13,000 troops and largely succeeding in restoring order.
But the mission was criticized for spreading cholera epidemics and for sexual violence perpetrated by peacekeepers, and gangs reemerged after the mission ended.
Erica James, a professor of medical anthropology and urban studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, documented relief efforts in Haiti after it fell to a coup in 1991.
She said the cycle of violence and despair in Haiti dates back decades and that while creating stability and peace has been and will remain important, it is also crucial to address the problem with long-term solutions, including addressing the Caribbean’s sovereign debt and intergenerational trauma.
“This is not just about governance and establishing order, but about how society acknowledges and repairs past harms,” she said. “My sympathies go out to the Kenyan military because they find themselves in a very different situation than they were before. [and] It’s much more complicated.”
