This week, the Kenyan-led group of police officers fighting gangs alongside local troops and police in Haiti offered what is being acknowledged as a major glimmer of hope for a battle-weary population by recommitting plans to wipe out heavily armed gangs that have been terrorizing the capital for the past three years.
Encouraged by a successful operation in three urban areas in the past week, the Kenyans said they are beginning to logistically and operationally understand the situation on the ground. They pledged to continue exercises against the gangs in the coming weeks with the help of national security forces.
The pledge came just two weeks after Prime Minister Garry Conille and his interim administration sounded alarm bells about the deteriorating situation, and the cabinet had called for a faster response from the international community to put together a lethal force to deal with the gangsters.
However, Kenyan Commander Godfrey Otunge responded to Conille and his nine-person administration’s level of desperation by issuing a statement expressing the estimated 400-person contingent’s pledge to help wipe out the gangs.
This effort has been boosted by the recent arrival of close to 20 armored military vehicles from the U.S., many of which were used in the operation in three areas in the past week. Additional batches of vehicles and other equipment have also arrived in recent months, ever since the United Nations approved the multinational force for Haiti. Facilities to accommodate up to 2,000 such personnel from a dozen countries are still being constructed near the main international airport, which had been effectively shut down by gangs until recently, triggering cancellations by most carriers which service Haiti.
To improve security at the facility, authorities are currently demolishing about 80 buildings overlooking the aerodrome to make it safer for international flights and the international force when it is fully subscribed to.
“Our commitment to decisively deal with the gangs in Haiti has just begun,” said Otunge in a statement of assurance to Haitians. “The security mission and Haitian National Police are conducting clearance operations in Delmas, Bel-Air, Solino, and their environs to weed out gangs and return normalcy in these zones. We thank the U.S. government for its continued support by heeding our call for additional equipment. MSS has received additional vehicles and equipment over the last week, leading to more sustained joint operations between HNP and MSS personnel. I wish to reiterate that operations to counter and clear gang activities across Haiti are taking shape, while noting that it will be a process and a journey that needs all of us to walk together.”
The full-scale offensive will continue.
Otunge said that “the pacification operations will be conducted by sea, land, and air, the security operations being conducted road to road, street to street, and house to house, leaving no room for the gangs to operate. It is therefore incumbent upon the gangs to put down their weapons and surrender to the government to face the rule of law. Our officers remain committed to their mandate and are professionally adhering to the international human rights law, as outlined under the human rights due diligence policy. This is to ensure and guarantee that civilian security remains our number one priority.”
Apart from working with the international community to improve security, the interim administration is also mandated to prepare for fresh general elections and a new government by February 2026. Conille said this deadline remains in trouble unless the security situation is improved drastically.