Foreign law enforcement agents began arriving in Haiti on Tuesday, more than a year and a half after the prime minister appealed to other countries to help end endemic violence gangs that shook this Caribbean country.
Since that call was made in October 2022, more than 7,500 people have been killed by violence, more than 2,500 people so far this year alone, the United Nations said.
With the presidency vacant and a weakened national government, dozens of gangs have taken control of much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, setting up roadblocks, kidnapping and killing civilians and attacking entire neighborhoods. Around 200,000 people were forced to leave their homes between March and May, according to the UN.
Today, a first group of 400 Kenyan police officers is arriving in Haiti to take on gangs, an effort largely organized by the Biden administration. The Kenyans are the first to deploy an expected force of 2,500 international police and soldiers from eight countries.
“You are undertaking a vital mission that transcends borders and cultures,” Kenyan President William Ruto told officers on Monday. “Your presence in Haiti will bring hope and relief to communities torn by violence and ravaged by disorder. »
Kenyan officers are expected to tackle a long list of priorities, including regaining control of the country’s main port, as well as freeing major highways from criminal groups that demand money from drivers.
“The gangs’ checkpoints on these routes are also a major source of their income generated by extorting money from anyone who passes by and kidnapping and detaining people for heavy ransoms,” he said. said William O’Neill, UN human rights expert in Haiti.
“Although much delayed, the arrival of the Kenyans comes at a good time,” especially since a new police chief and a new prime minister have been appointed in recent weeks, he said.
A small assessment team from Kenya arrived in May to begin preparations, but found a lack of equipment. So the United States, the mission’s main supplier, scrambled to find armored vehicles and other equipment.
“The Kenyans don’t want to be part of these missions that show up on the ground, and for a month, they never leave their base,” Dennis B. Hankins, the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, said in an interview. “They want to be able to see quickly that they are having an impact.”
Officially called the Multinational Security Support Mission, the deployment is expected to last at least a year, according to the U.S. government. Sanctioned by the UN and funded largely by the United States, its goal is to support the Haitian police and establish enough stability for the transitional government to hold elections to choose a new president, as well as a National Assembly.
The U.S. military conducted more than 90 flights to Haiti to prepare for the mission, transporting more than 2,600 tons of supplies. Civilian contractors have built dormitories for Kenyan officers at Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince.
In May, Haitian government officials began clearing the airport perimeter of hundreds of homes, making it easier for gangs to hide and shoot at planes, forcing the airfield to close.
The airport has reopened to commercial flights. But gang leaders have said they will fight the Kenyans, whom they see as invaders.
“As soon as we got the airport open and functional and we started seeing military flights, it had a real and significant psychological impact on the population,” Mr Hankins said.
Many experts are cautious in their assessment of the international force, mainly because aside from combating insecurity, there is no comprehensive plan to address the root causes of Haiti’s many governance problems.
After the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry at the end of April, it took several weeks for political parties to agree on the members of the new presidential transition council. A full month passed before Mr. Henry’s replacement took office.
Garry Conille, a former UN official, accepted the position at the end of May. His office and the transition council declined to comment Monday on the upcoming deployment.
Haitian authorities must make difficult decisions, Hankins said, such as whether to first regain control of Port-au-Prince’s central hospital from gangs, or secure the port so that fuel, food and other products can flow consistently.
The gangs, he added, did not retaliate while preparations were underway at the airport. The Kenyans will “support” the Haitian police, but will not replace them, he said, so that, at the end of the mission, their departure does not create “a security vacuum.”
So far, the The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad, Jamaica and Kenya have formally nominated personnel for the mission.
But the mission hasn’t received much financial commitment.
While Kenyan officials estimate the cost will be $600 million, the United Nations fund to finance the project has only $21 million. The United States has pledged more than $300 million to fund this mission.
The Kenyan deployment comes a month after Mr Ruto’s trip from Kenya to the United States at the invitation of President Biden. The four-day trip was the first state visit by a Kenyan president in two decades and the first by an African leader since 2008.
The United States, Canada and France – Haiti’s biggest benefactors and allies – were unwilling to send their own troops to Haiti.
Kenya was the first country to publicly propose doing so. Many experts believe the mission would be better received if led by an African country.
Experts say Mr Ruto, who won the presidency in 2022 after a hotly contested election, was taking advantage of the deployment to further strengthen its profile on the global stage.
The deployment comes even as Mr Ruto faces massive protests across the country against a finance bill that critics say will increase the already high cost of living.
A team of Haitian police commanders recently visited Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, while Ruto held discussions with the Haitian presidential transition council.
At a police camp in Nairobi, officers who will be part of the deployment made final preparations. They underwent physical and military training and received new helmets and bulletproof vests, according to interviews with officers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly to journalists.
They also took intensive courses in French and Creole.
Beyond protecting key infrastructure, officers will at some point need to secure the presidential palace, which remains in ruins after a 2010 earthquake but continues to be a symbolic site of power in Haiti.
“Early deployment of this force will be very vulnerable,” said Sophie Rutenbar, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Center for International Cooperation who has worked in Haiti.
The initial group will likely play it safe at first, she said, but even if more officers arrive from other countries, their task will be daunting, especially since they have never worked together before, do not speak the same language or do not speak the same thing. have a common “operational framework”.
Eugene Chen, a former U.N. official who follows Haiti closely, said the international mission seemed to emerge from a desperation to do something. If it does not find ways to support Haiti’s political process, the mission could exacerbate violence, Mr. Chen said.
“It’s not clear,” Mr. Chen added, “that this is the right answer.”
Abdi Latif Dahir contributed to reporting from Nairobi, and David C. Adams from Miami.
