2024-09-23 01:48:02
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — As world leaders meet at the United Nations this week to discuss the future of efforts to stop the gangs that control Haiti, Haitians are expressing despair that the international response will quell the violence.
So far, a U.N.-backed force of 400 Kenyan police and about two dozen Jamaican police officers has done little to stop Haitian gangs. Gangs have been causing terror attacks in the country.
The United States floated the idea of a U.N. peacekeeping force, but the idea was deemed too controversial given the cases of cholera and sexual abuse that occurred the last time U.N. troops operated in Haiti.
Part of the reason for deploying Kenyan troops is to avoid the tensions that could arise from sending another U.N. peacekeeping mission.
But during a weekend visit to Haiti by Kenyan President William Ruto – en route to a U.N. General Assembly meeting that begins Sunday – Ruto signaled his willingness to expand Kenya’s operations into a larger U.N. peacekeeping mission.
Ruto stressed: “If this is the direction the UN Security Council wants to take, we have absolutely no problem with the proposal to turn it into a UN peacekeeping mission.”
While Ruto on Sunday praised the achievements of Kenya’s military, a recent report by United Nations human rights experts noted that gang violence is spreading across Haiti and that Haitian police still lack the “logistical capabilities and technology” to combat gangs.
The ongoing violence has frustrated Haitians with renewed international efforts to crack down on criminal gangs, including Mario Canteve, 39, who said he no longer believed in claims from world leaders that the crisis-stricken country could be turned around. commitment to the national situation.
“No one is coming to save Haiti. Nothing has changed,” he said. “A new mission cannot save Haiti.”
Kantef sells mobile phone chips and repairs electronics in the capital, Port-au-Prince, an estimated 80 percent of which is controlled by gangs. Faced with brutal gang violence, some Haitians organized vigilante groups to defend themselves.
These groups illustrate the lack of hope among many Haitians that an international solution can bring about change in Haiti.
Professor Moise Jean-Pierre, 50, recalled past UN missions in Haiti, calling such efforts a “waste of time.”
“This is not our first UN mission in Haiti,” he said. “What difference will this make?”
These on-the-ground views reflect the situation of world leaders who have been seeking broader solutions to Haiti’s problems for years.
The Kenyan government has pledged to send 600 additional police officers, and the current security mission is expected to involve 2,500 troops, with the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad also committing to send police and soldiers. Although it’s unclear when that will happen.
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