- One notorious gang leader, a former police officer, has vowed to remove Henry from power.
- The PM, in late 2022, took the extraordinary step of appealing to the world for help to restore peace.
Image: SCREENGRAB
In seemingly coordinated attacks in Haiti in the past two weeks, armed gangs blasted open the gates of two main prisons and freed nearly 4,000 inmates and tried to seize the international airport in Port-au-Prince, prompting observers to conclude that the weakened government of the unpopular Prime Minister Ariel Henry may not survive for long.
One notorious gang leader, a former police officer, has vowed to remove Henry from power.
The PM, in late 2022, took the extraordinary step of appealing to the world for help to restore peace.
Sadly, his country’s historical problems have induced aid fatigue in some of the countries that may be able to help contain the violence.
The list of Haiti’s problems is long. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, and has a history of political turmoil, frequent leadership changes and disputed elections.
Corruption is pervasive and public trust in government institutions is low. Natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes have not helped matters.
But it is gang violence that now presents the greatest challenge to Haiti as a nation. The rule of law is weak, and the limited capacity of law enforcement makes it difficult to maintain public safety and security.
The renewed violence comes about three years since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home in July 2021.
The politicians running Haiti, including the PM, are not elected as the country has not held nationwide elections for almost a decade.
Haiti’s rich and powerful neighbour to the north, the United States, has not only called on the prime minister to resign and hold elections but has also urged its citizens to leave Haiti and ruled out sending troops.
The US has good reasons for its hesitancy. Top among them is that it has a complicated history with Haiti, including refusing to recognise it for 60 years after it gained independence from France in 1804 and mounting military interventions that failed or were unpopular.
The US also has a presidential election in November, and President Joe Biden understands that sending troops abroad can be politically contentious and damaging, especially if a positive outcome cannot be guaranteed or he cannot articulate a clear national interest that needs to be guarded.
But rather than making the world turn away in exasperation, the surge in violence in Haiti in recent weeks should reinforce the resolve of other nations to come to the aid of the people of Haiti and help reclaim peace for that troubled nation of 11 million people that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.
It is gratifying that Kenya has responded to this call with a pledge to send in 1,000 police officers (alongside Barbados, the Bahamas, Benin, Chad and Bangladesh).
It is worth stressing that the Kenya-led contingent is not going there to support Henry but to help restore order, which is good for the people of Haiti.
It will help buttress the current national and international calls for a broad-based, inclusive political consensus and transition towards democratic elections.
Whatever Haiti’s political class determines as the way forward for a transition, multinational security support will be available to support the police and other institutions to establish order for a free and democratic election.
PM Henry’s government, for more than a year, has been appealing for an international security force to help. He knows that the Haitian police force is not adequately resourced and has been overwhelmed by gang violence and cannot re-establish the rule of law on its own.
The United Nations approved such a force in October last year, but it has been difficult to set it up. Few nations are willing to step in to help Haiti, and the UN has said it would only provide oversight for the mission when it materialises.
As these international efforts continue, we need to remember that not everyone in Haiti welcomes foreign intervention. That is because Haiti has a long history of occupation by foreign powers that often ended badly for Haitians.
Haitians were colonised by France, which enslaved and exploited them until they revolted in 1804, making Haiti the first independent Black republic, but global powers at the time, including the US, were hostile to independent Haiti and isolated it.
There is a moral obligation for the community of nations to intervene in Haiti – to help uphold human rights and democracy, and protect vulnerable populations from peril.
Lest we forget, there are other conflicts, such as the Rwandan genocide, that the world neglected only to regret later. Kenya must stand to be counted on the right side of history.
Kenya is an appropriate partner in this endevour because it has significant experience in international peacekeeping missions, having contributed to UN and African Union operations in the East African region and elsewhere over the years. Our police officers are also well-trained and have expertise in dealing with gangs.
Furthermore, in helping Haiti in its hour of need, Kenya would be supporting a symbol of Black tenacity, the only nation in history to emerge victorious in a slave revolt, and thereafter endure decades of a mix of natural disasters and human-induced suffering.
The planned intervention, however, therefore requires careful planning and coordination. That includes defining clear roles and responsibilities for each participating police force and setting up reliable mechanisms for sharing information and intelligence to identify threats and coordinate the most apt response.
There will also be a need to do capacity building for the Haiti security forces because the goal is long-term peace and stability. Not to be forgotten in peacebuilding efforts are the local communities, who are usually the most affected by conflict and violence.
Locals will identify the root causes of the violence and help develop workable solutions.
When Kenya announced last year that it would help lead a multinational force to return peace to Port-au-Prince, critics of the plan argued that official Nairobi didn’t grasp what it was getting itself into and that our police officers were unsuited for the job.
But the officers can be a force for good in Haiti, and we should support their mission.
Mr Moseti is a security expert and peacemaking consultant.