Kenya-led security mission headed to Haiti to face multiple challenges, ICG report warns

The UN-authorized, Kenya-led multinational armed force that is expected to begin arriving in Haiti in early 2024 to assist the national police in its fights against gangs besieging much of the country will face multiple challenges, a recent report published by the Belgium-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warns.
The Kenyan-led multinational mission that was approved by the UN Security Council last October aims to help combat violent gangs, restore security and enable long overdue elections. This marks the first time in almost 20 years that a force would be deployed to the troubled Caribbean nation. The ICG report published on Friday (5 January) warns that major challenges lie in wait for the mission once it is on the ground. Among the key challenges highlighted in the report are Haiti’s gangs that could ally to battle it together and also fighting in Haiti’s ramshackle urban neighborhoods that will put innocent civilians at risk. The report also highlights links between corrupt police and the gangs that could make it difficult to maintain operational secrecy. “For all these reasons, preparation will be of critical importance,” the report read.
While less than 10,000 officers are estimated to be on duty at any time in a country of more than 11 million people, the UN says that there should ideally be some 25,000 active officers on the ground. “The police are completely outnumbered and outgunned by the gangs,” said Diego Da Rin, with ICG, who spent nearly a month in Haiti late last year to do research for the report. Therefore, the report recommends that the mission should not deploy in force until it has sufficient troops, training and equipment to overpower the gangs. It should also prepare for urban combat, and develop community-level sources of intelligence, to help minimize civilian harm. Last but not the least, a political settlement and major reforms will be required for gains to endure. In any case, for the sake of Haiti’s long-suffering people, every effort must go into helping the mission succeed,” the report concludes.