Outgunned and Uninterested- Haiti’s Collapse and the International Community

Luke Chaney

17 April 2024

It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the Haitian Republic has joined the likes of Somalia and Afghanistan as a failed state. A state is said to have failed when the government has lost the exclusive right to legitimate violence within its own territory, making institutions and the rule of law practically irrelevant. The Haitian government has increasingly been losing power to a cabal of criminal gangs, with the state seemingly unable to exercise any level of authority over its own sovereign territory. Historically, Gang's in Haiti have been a vital political tool, allowing politicians to intimidate opponents and guard against coups. Thus, Haitian gangs grew in strength and importance, with a disbanded military and impotent police force powerless in stopping them amidst the near perpetual political and economic stability of the nation. The current crisis began in earnest when these gangs assassinated the Haitian president in July of 2021, leaving the country in the hands of unpopular prime minister Ariel Henry, while the various gangs began their offensive. Much of the country, including nearly all of the capital city of Port au Prince are now under the control of gangs, as the members of the notoriously corrupt Haitian National Police desert, defect to the gangs or are slaughtered. Haiti now only has 9000 security personnel facing hundreds of different well armed and organized gangs. Haitian civilians are increasingly subject to robbery, kidnapping, ransom, murder and rape from the gangs, with no support in sight as the elites hunker down and beg for foreign intervention. In response, communities have taken the law into their own hands, and have begun organizing militias to fight back, utilizing whatever weapons they can find to commit extrajudicial killings against suspected gang members. This loss of power culminated when the disparate gangs united this year, launching an offensive which secured the national airport and a major prison. The gangs successfully demanded the resignation of the prime minister, with the new provisional government being heavily influenced by pro-gang attitudes and politicians.

Amidst this total collapse of state authority, what has the response of the international community been? Traditionally, the international community has been gung-ho to intervene in the various crises which have plagued Haiti since its independence, with the most important actors being France and the United States. Neither of these actors have shown any willingness to put boots on the ground, likely fearful of public backlash or military overstretch amidst the war in Ukraine and increasing tensions in Africa and Asia. With far more strategically important obligations, what reason would the traditional powers of the world have to intervene, and to try once again to stabilize a country which has never been stable.

The only country which seems to have any real interest in direct intervention is Kenya, as it seeks to build its international clout and improve its standing in the Southern hemisphere. Kenya intends to deploy 1000 police officers to help augment their Haitian counterparts, but will this change anything? This deployment is immensely controversial within Kenya, with it being originally struck down by the country’s supreme court while opposition politicians use it as political ammunition in the upcoming election. Even if these hurdles can be surmounted, what will 1000 police officers truly do? The Haitian National Police have been unable to control the situation with 9000 officers, and their numbers are decreasing by the day, the Kenyan deployment will just act as a bandaid on a bullet hole. The Kenyan and Haitian police will not be conducting traffic stops or issuing parking tickets, they will be fighting a war, with shifting frontlines and heavy armaments. One can reasonably doubt that so few reinforcements will be enough to turn the tide. Furthermore, Kenya's police have been notorious for their human right’s abuses, such as when the force massacred 30 civilians during a protest last July. All it takes is one Kenyan constable with an itchy trigger finger to turn this from a gang war into a national revolution, as any misbehavior will cause the intervention to be perceived as an occupation by Haiti’s citizens. No one in the international community has anything to gain from a deployment to Haiti besides the expense of another fruitless intervention.