Anticipation is mingling with fear across Haiti as the country welcomes its fourth major foreign intervention to combat the pervasive gang violence choking the Caribbean nation.
On Wednesday morning, (June 26, 2024), a contingent of several hundred police officers from Kenya met with Prime Minister Garry Conille, preparing for imminent deployment. Their specific assignments remain undisclosed for security reasons, known only to high-ranking officials.
Expectations are high as Haitians grapple with fear and exhaustion from gangs that have ravaged the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas. In recent years, these gangs have killed, raped, and kidnapped thousands, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and unemployed, further deepening the country’s poverty.
“I’m asking the prime minister and the Kenyans to free Haiti from these gangs,” said Mathurin Jean François, a 30-year-old math teacher who has been unemployed for two years due to gang violence forcing his school to close. “Many people are suffering.”
The initial U.N.-backed contingent of foreign police arrived on Monday. They will be joined by police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad, and Jamaica, totaling 2,500 personnel.
“The Haitian strategy is to restore security house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood, town by town,” stated Conille during his meeting with the Kenyan police.
However, the outcome remains uncertain. Gangs control 80% of Port-au-Prince, and they are better equipped than Haiti’s National Police, often brandishing assault rifles and displaying ammunition on social media, including .50 caliber bullets.
On February 29, gangs launched coordinated attacks that eventually led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. They raided over two dozen police stations, fired on the main international airport, forcing its closure for nearly three months, and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
The Kenyan-led mission in Haiti will have to prove its effectiveness, according to Sabrina Karim, an assistant professor of government at Cornell University who focuses on conflict and peace processes.
“It’s a very tricky mandate that requires experience and strong local knowledge,” she said, noting the importance of Kenyans gaining the trust of Haitians who are already distrustful of a government long linked to corruption and gangs. “The accountability piece is really important. That ultimately decides whether the Haiti public is going to accept the mission or not.”
Previous interventions have faced significant challenges. The U.N.’s 2004-2017 peacekeeping mission was marred by allegations of sexual assault and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people.
“The track record isn’t great for the Kenyan police either,” Karim remarked. “All eyes are on the Kenyan police to demonstrate that they can do better.”
Kenyan police have faced allegations of abuse for years, including extrajudicial killings. Recently, they were accused of opening fire on protesters who stormed the parliament in Nairobi on Tuesday.
Nonprofit organizations working in Haiti have expressed concerns about the Kenyan-led mission, particularly following the U.N.’s recent announcement that 30% to 50% of armed group members are now children.
“The risk of child casualties is significant,” the U.S.-based nonprofit Save the Children stated. “An increasing number of children in Haiti have been driven to join armed groups due to hunger and desperation. These children are victims of child rights violations, and must be treated as children, not as militias.”
The organization noted alarming reports of armed groups using children and teenagers in confrontations with Haiti’s police.
For now, Haitians are watching the Kenyans with a mix of hope and skepticism.
“There’s a breeze of hope in the air,” said Frantz Pradieu, a 39-year-old carpenter working on his first job in many months. “If the Kenyans work hard, maybe in a few months from now, the economy will turn around. A lot of people want to work. A lot of people lost their jobs. This has been a catastrophic situation for the last three years. Everybody is living in fear. People are being kidnapped. People are being raped. This needs to stop.”
