UN extends Kenyan police mission in Haiti in vain attempt to tackle gangs

Haiti is suffocated by its approximately two hundred violent criminal gangs. The latest UN figures show that more than 3,600 people have died in the country since January, including more than 100 children, while more than 500,000 Haitians have been displaced.

The situation prompted the country’s unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry, to resign in April. And two months later, a Kenyan-led police mission tasked with establishing order was deployed to the Caribbean country. But the operation has so far struggled to rein in the gangs.

Therefore, on September 30, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to extend the mission’s mandate for another year. There was consensus that the law and order situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate day by day.

The move to expand the mission is, in my opinion, hollow and fails to address the real challenges on the ground. It does not address the rampant arms trafficking fueling violence in Haiti, nor does it provide the funding that allows the mission to operate effectively.

Read more: How Haiti Became a Failed State

Haiti has no production capacity for firearms or ammunition. Yet the country’s gangs offend the masses with all manner of sophisticated small arms, including sniper rifles, pump-action shotguns and all manner of automatic weapons.

All of these weapons come from outside the island, mainly from the US, but also from the neighboring Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Experts say lax gun laws in the US states of Arizona, Florida and Georgia have created a sophisticated arms trafficking racket to Haiti.

There is no exact figure for how many trafficked firearms there are currently in Haiti. But Haiti’s Disarmament Commission estimated in 2020 that there could be as many as 500,000 small arms illegally in Haiti — a number now likely to be even higher. This figure dwarfs the 38,000 registered firearms in the country.

The effectiveness of the Kenyan operation is also undermined by limited resources. Although the mission has been approved by the UN Security Council, it is not a UN operation and relies on voluntary financial contributions. It was originally promised $600 million (£458 million) by UN member states, but it has received only a fraction of that fund.

According to Human Rights Watch, the mission has so far received only $85 million in contributions through a trust fund set up by the UN. The former colonial master of Haiti, France, and several other G7 countries have not been so forthcoming.

Inadequate funding has hampered the purchase of advanced weapons, delayed the payment of police officers’ salaries and prevented the deployment of more troops on the ground.

So far, only 400 Kenyan police officers and 20 police officers from Jamaica have arrived in Haiti. This is significantly fewer than the 2,500 officers initially pledged by several countries including Chad, Benin, Bangladesh and Barbados.

These financial woes have not only negatively affected the morale of Kenyan police officers, but have also left Haitians despondent. Haitians are increasingly expressing their impatience and disappointment with Kenyan forces in the media and online.

Some critics have accused the officers of being “tourists” and have pointed out that the gangs have tightened their grip on large parts of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, since the mission began.

The pessimism within Haiti was eloquently highlighted by the country’s interim Prime Minister, Garry Conille, on September 25. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, he admitted: “We are a long way from winning this, and the simple reality is that we won’t without your help.”

Benefit gangs

Finding the Kenyan-led operation merely irritating and not a worthy opponent, the gangs have only upped the ante. According to a spokesman for Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, the country’s armed gangs are now doing “all they can” to maintain control. This included the use of sexual violence to instill fear in local populations and expand their influence.

Some UN member states, such as the US and Ecuador, have requested that a formal UN peacekeeping mission take place. And while previous peacekeeping operations in the country have been marred by controversy, Haiti has asked the UN to consider turning the current operation into a peacekeeping mission.

Read more: Haiti: First Kenyan police arrive to help combat gang violence – but prospects for success are slim

This mission, which would likely include a larger contingent of troops, should not face the same financial constraints as the current operation. It would have greater visibility on the ground, and more firepower and authority to tackle the gangs.

Past evidence also shows that UN peacekeeping missions significantly reduce civilian casualties, shorten conflicts and help peace agreements last.

However, the recent push for a peacekeeping mission has been thwarted by opposition from China and Russia, two of the five permanent members with veto powers of the UN Security Council.

Beijing and Moscow have consistently argued that political conditions in Haiti are “not conducive” to a new UN peacekeeping operation. They have insisted that the current operation must “reach its full operational capacity before discussing such a transformation”.

Meanwhile, the gangs continue to consolidate their vice-like grip on the country, with stories of rampant sexual violence against civilians, the closure of humanitarian corridors, the expansion of their territorial control and – of course – more killings.