Blinken visits Haiti plagued by corruption and gangs

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken traveled to Haiti on Thursday to express American support for international efforts to free the country from tyrannical, violent gangs.

Mr. Blinken landed in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where he planned to oversee the work of a Kenyan-led security force backed by the United Nations that arrived in Haiti this summer. Its mandate is to support Haitian police in their fight against gangs that have imposed brutal rule on large parts of the Caribbean country through torture, rape and murder.

Haiti’s slide into criminal anarchy is one of the most persistent challenges facing the Biden administration and the international community, overshadowed by crises in the Middle East and Europe.

Efforts to improve the lives of Haiti’s largely impoverished population of some 11 million people have been hampered by past interventions by the United States and the United Nations that appear to have only exacerbated the country’s problems.

Those failures, and a legacy of colonialism, help explain why the United States has played a supporting role in Kenya’s deployment of police officers, which now number about 400. That’s far short of the stated goal of 2,500, to which at least six other countries have said they would contribute.

US officials said Mr Blinken – the first US secretary of state to visit Haiti in nearly a decade – would assess the state of the security mission, which has so far done little to oust the power of well-armed gangs who have been looting across the country, blocking roads, ransacking prisons and attacking police stations.

While the United States is not providing personnel for the security mission, it is providing equipment and financial support, with $309 million pledged so far, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Wednesday.

About $200 million of that has already been delivered to Haiti by the Defense Department in the form of equipment such as armored personnel carriers. The State Department is providing the rest, including radios, night vision capabilities and police equipment, Miller said.

Despite the small number of Kenyan police officers in the country, the situation in Haiti is much more stable than it was a few months ago, Brian A. Nichols, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told reporters on Wednesday.

Mr. Nichols noted that in March, Haiti’s former prime minister, Ariel Henry, was stranded when mobs opened fire on the country’s international airport, forcing it to close. The airport is now operational again. Around the same time, a former rebel leader threatened to march on Port-au-Prince and take over the government.

“We’ve come a long way since those very dark moments,” Mr. Nichols said. “We’re seeing the security progress that we’ve been waiting for for a long time.” He said Kenyan forces have been conducting joint operations with the Haitian National Police and the Haitian military, “going after gangs and their leaders in a way that hasn’t been done in years.”

But Mr Nichols struck an ominous tone, warning that progress could be reversed without more outside support. “We need the rest of the international community to step forward with much greater financial contributions so that the force can continue to operate,” he said.

There is also the question of what will happen to the mission after its current U.N. mandate expires on Oct. 2. Some analysts have said the Kenyan-led deployment, which is authorized but not funded by the United Nations, should be replaced by a traditional U.N. peacekeeping force — despite ongoing anger over previous U.N. peacekeepers raping women and girls and introducing cholera to the country.

Asked about the possibility of a peacekeeping mission, Mr Miller said the US government “will always look at all available options.”

While security is essential to restoring the country’s stability, officials and analysts say long-term success will depend on a successful transition back to democratic rule after years of unrest following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in his bedroom in July 2021. The country is formally ruled by Prime Minister Garry Conille, a former UN official appointed in May with whom Blinken had planned to meet.

A transitional council formed this year is paving the way for national elections to choose a new president. But the process has been plagued by delays and infighting, and three members of the council are under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency for handing out government jobs to members of a coalition of political and economic groups.

Mr Nichols expressed concern about the allegations and said Haitian authorities should investigate the allegations and “hold accountable anyone responsible for corrupt acts.” He added that the Haitian people have a right to good governance and that international donors “need confidence that funds flowing through the Haitian government are being used in an appropriate and transparent manner.”

Mr Blinken wanted to meet with the leader of the transitional council, Edgard Leblanc Fils.

After a stop in Haiti, Mr. Blinken will visit the neighboring Dominican Republic, State Department officials said. The Dominican Republic is a political and economic success story unlike its neighbor and, unlike Haiti, is safe enough for the secretary of state to stay overnight.

Adblock Test (Why?)