A resident carries tires to be added to a burning barricade to deter gang members from entering his neighborhood, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
In June, Kenyan police began deploying to Haiti as part of a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission aimed at helping restore security in the country. The mission faces a daunting task. So far this year, gang violence has killed more than 4,000 Haitians and displaced more than 700,000, gangs control around 85% of the capital, and nearly half of the population faces acute levels of food insecurity. The initial personnel deployed through the MSS mission supported the Haitian national police in some offensives to take back territory from the gangs, but security has since rapidly deteriorated.
In this interview, Gloria Blaise, Ph.D., Director of Research Development at Haïti Policy House, discusses how the MSS mission has been received so far in Haiti and how the mission could build trust with Haitian communities.
Could you give us an overview of the status of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission and the role it has played so far in addressing the security crisis in Haiti?
The MSS has two main objectives: to secure and protect the government infrastructure in Haiti and to train and support the Haitian national police to fight violent gangs. The MSS was set to include 1,000 Kenyan police officers and an additional 1,500 police and military personnel from other countries, but the actual number of personnel on the ground so far is closer to 400. A major reason for this delayed deployment is lack of funding, as only around $400 million of the $600 million required has been provided.
What we’ve seen in recent weeks tells us that the MSS has failed or is near failure. While some government infrastructure, including the US embassy, has been protected, the airport, which is not too far from the Kenyan police base, remains unsecured. Over the course of the past two weeks alone, we’ve witnessed the scale and magnitude of gang violence and insecurity increase significantly. There has been an attack on a UN helicopter, a massacre in Pont-Sondé, violence in the Solino neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, gun attacks on two international aircraft in Port-au-Prince, the death of a prominent figure in Haitian society, and violence spreading in the prominent neighborhood of Pétion-Ville. Read more
