MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Violence-torn Haiti still relies on UN and foreign help to fight gangs

The PNH was found to lack the strength to fught gangs

Provisional authorities in violence-torn Haiti are stepping up their efforts to garner international help in their fight against local gangs. During the weekend, visiting Port-au-Prince was Kenyan President William Ruto, whose country has already contributed a 400-strong police force and pledged to add some more troops shortly if necessary. At the same time, Presidential Transitional Council member Leslie Voltaire met with India's Ambassador Ramu Abbagani to discuss the issue, in addition to other topics such as climate change, natural disasters, public health, artificial intelligence, and solar energy.

 Meanwhile, Haitian National Police (PNH) Interim Director Rameau Normil confirmed that France would be putting together a special security team, according to talks he held with Paris' Ambassador Antoine Michon. In addition, Defense Minister Jean-Marc Berthier met with Canada's Ambassador André François, also to review the prospects for bilateral cooperation in this area.

The PNH will also have a group of 400 of its officers trained at specialized centers in Brazil, as agreed upon during Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy's participation at the Conference on the African Diaspora, where she discussed the matter with Ministers Ricardo Lewandowski (Justice) and José Múcio (Defense).

In this scenario, Acting Prime Minister Garry Conille hopes to seize the United Nations General Assembly to ask for more assistance. Conille arrived in New York on Sept. 20 and has met with several foreign dignitaries ahead of the ecumenical gathering.

The truth is that local law enforcement, even with the help from the UN-backed Kenyan mission plus about two dozen Jamaican officers, have done little to quell the country's gangs that reign supreme since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021. The country has not held general elections since 2016 as the crisis has dragged on. Last week, Haiti took its first steps in creating a provisional election council to prepare the nation for elections.

A larger-scale deployment of a UN peacekeeping force has come across strong objections given the introduction of cholera and sexual abuse cases the last time UN troops were in Haiti. Nevertheless, Ruto said during his stopover in Port-au-Prince en route to New York that he would be open to expanding Kenya's operations into a larger UN peacekeeping mission “if that is the direction the UN security council wants to take.”

“You have represented the people of Kenya with courage, professionalism, selflessness, compassion, and sufficiency,” Ruto told the Kenyan force from a podium Saturday.

However, UN human rights expert William O'Neill warned Friday that the PNH lacked the “logistical and technical capabilities” to fight gangs, due to which around 80% of Port-au-Prince is run by these organizations, leading ordinary citizens to create organized vigilante groups to battle the gangs themselves.

O'Neill also pointed out that the humanitarian consequences of the present situation were “dramatic,” particularly considering the rampant inflation coupled with the lack of basic goods and “internally displaced people further increasing the vulnerability of the population, particularly children and women.”

A security mission is expected to reach a total of 2,500 troops, with the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, and Chad also pledging to send police and soldiers, although it remains to be determined when.