‘Nowhere near winning this,’ Haiti’s PM says of battle against gangs

Prime Minister Garry Conille offers grim view of progress in anti-gang mission on sidelines of UN General Assembly.

Haiti’s interim prime minister has said the Caribbean country is far from defeating armed groups that have seized control of large swaths of territory, urging greater international support to help restore safety and stability.

“We are nowhere near winning this, and the simple reality is that we won’t without your help,” Garry Conille said on Wednesday at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“There is a sense of urgency because the Haitian people are watching with cautious optimism, they’re really hoping to see clear results,” he said.

Haiti has reeled from years of violence as powerful armed groups – often with ties to the country’s political and business leaders – have vied for influence and control of territory.

But the situation worsened dramatically at the end of February, when the gangs launched attacks on prisons and other state institutions across the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The surge in violence prompted the resignation of Haiti’s unelected prime minister, the creation of the transitional presidential council, and the deployment of a UN-backed, multinational police deployment led by Kenya.

About 10 countries have pledged more than 3,100 troops to the multinational force – formally known as the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) – but only approximately 400 of these have deployed.

The mission’s one-year mandate expires in early October and the UN Security Council is set to vote on September 30 on whether to renew it.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed that the funding for the mission, as well as the Haitian National Police, “remains totally inadequate”.

“I urge all those who have made financial commitments to deliver on them urgently,” he said in a statement. “We must keep working to mobilize sufficient resources for the mission, and for the humanitarian response in Haiti.”

More than 700,000 Haitians have been displaced due to the violence and instability, according to UN figures, with many living in makeshift camps in Port-au-Prince. The instability also has pushed many Haitians to flee the country in search of protection.

Meanwhile, the United States, the MSS’s key backer, has been pushing to get more funding and personnel to bolster the force.

The US State Department announced on Wednesday that it was contributing an additional $160m in “development, economic, health, and security assistance for the Haitian people”.

News outlets also have reported that Washington is exploring the possibility of transitioning the mission into a UN peacekeeping operation.

.@SecBlinken spoke with @UN Secretary-General Guterres about the possibility of transforming the Haiti Multinational Security Support mission into a UN peacekeeping mission. They discussed the need for sustainable security support for the Haitian people.

— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) September 19, 2024

That potential change received the backing of Kenyan President William Ruto, who visited Haiti at the weekend to assess the progress of the Kenya-led mission.

“On the suggestion to transit this into a fully UN peacekeeping mission, we have absolutely no problem with it, if that is the direction the UN Security Council wants to take,” Ruto said on Saturday in Port-au-Prince.

But many Haitians remain wary of UN interventions, saying past deployments have brought more harm than good.

A deadly 2010 cholera outbreak was linked to a UN peacekeeping base, for example, and UN forces in Haiti were also accused of rape and sexual abuse.

Haitian civil society leaders have cautiously welcomed the multinational mission as a needed boost in the fight against the gangs. But they have also stressed that the problems facing the country will not be solved by force alone.

They have called for more support and training for Haiti’s national police force, as well as an end to corruption and a Haitian-led political process.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies