PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — As world leaders meet at the United Nations this week to discuss future efforts to rein in the gangs choking Haiti, Haitians are expressing despair that an international response can stem the tide of violence.
So far, a U.N.-backed force of 400 Kenyan police officers and about two dozen Jamaican officers have done little to quell the country’s gangs, which have terrorized the country since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. World leaders have been discussing the next steps in a complicated effort to restore order to the Caribbean nation.
The United States has floated the idea of a UN peacekeeping force, but the idea was considered too controversial because of the introduction of cholera And cases of sexual abuse which took place during the last presence of UN troops in Haiti.
The deployment of Kenyan troops was partly intended to defuse tensions that could arise from the deployment of a new UN peacekeeping mission.
But during a visit to Haiti by Kenyan President William Ruto last weekend – en route to the The session of the United Nations General Assembly, which began on Sunday – Ruto said he is open to expanding Kenyan operations into a larger UN peacekeeping mission.
“As for the proposal to convert this into a full UN peacekeeping mission, we have absolutely no problem with that, if that is the direction the UN Security Council wants to go,” Ruto said.
While Ruto on Sunday praised the successes of the Kenyan armed forces, a recent report by a UN human rights expert said Gang violence spreads across Haiti and that Haitian police still lack the “logistical and technical capacity” to combat gangs.
The ongoing violence has left Haitians like 39-year-old Mario Canteve disappointed in further international efforts to suppress the gangs. He says he no longer believes in world leaders’ promises that they can change anything in the crisis-stricken country.
“Nobody is coming to save Haiti. Nothing is changing,” he said. “A new mission cannot save Haiti.”
Canteve sells cell phone chips and repairs electronics in the capital Port-au-Prince, an estimated 80 percent of which is gang-controlled. Some Haitians have formed vigilante groups to combat the gangs themselves, which face brutal gang violence.
Such groups indicate that many Haitians have no hope that an international solution can bring change to Haiti.
Moise Jean-Pierre, a 50-year-old school teacher, recalled previous UN missions in Haiti and said such efforts were “a waste of time.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had UN missions in Haiti,” he said. “What difference will it make?”
The sentiments on the ground show the dire situation world leaders find themselves in as they have spent years searching for a broader solution to Haiti’s problems.
The Kenyan government has pledged an additional 600 officers and the current security mission is expected to total 2,500 troops, while the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad have also pledged to send police and soldiers. However, it is not yet clear when that will happen.
Few at the UN are keen on a larger peacekeeping mission, partly because of the abuses of previous missions but also because many Haitians have an aversion to foreign intervention. Experts say three previous interventions by the US and the UN have not improved the crises in Haiti.
Some hope that elections scheduled for next year will pave the way for a Haitian solution.
No general elections have been held in the country since 2016 as the crisis continues.
Last week, Haiti took the first steps in setting up a provisional electoral council to prepare the country for elections. Haiti still faces many obstacles to get there, the biggest of which is violence.
While Canteve, the mobile phone chip salesman, called for unity and said that “a new mission cannot save Haiti, the children of Haiti must save themselves,” he also expressed doubts about whether the country was safe enough to hold elections.
“How can you have elections when everything is so violent? Everybody is shooting,” he said. “If the police are not even allowed to go into certain areas, what kind of elections do you have?”