New UN Force Set to Tackle Gangs, Haitians Exhausted

As new UN force set to tackle gangs, Haitians speak of exhaustion and hopelessness

“Too much blood has been shed, we’ve had too many dead, we have gone through too much.”

By  Milo Milfort

For The New Humanitarian

The first foreign boots since the UN approved a Gang Suppression Force (GSF) to tackle Haiti’s worsening security crisis have hit the ground, but there’s little confidence among Haitians that it will be anything but yet another pointless foreign intervention. A batch of 230 Kenyan police officers landed in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on 8 December – after the UN Security Council approved a resolution in late September to transition the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission into the GSF.

Concerns that Haiti’s crisis could spill into the wider region led the UN, the Caribbean regional bloc (CARICOM), and the Organization of American States (OAS) to multiply efforts to find new mechanisms to stabilise Haiti. Gangs now control 90% of the capital, 50% of the surrounding Artibonite department, and continue to expand in other regions. More than 1.4 million people (more than one in 10 Haitians) are currently displaced, with little access to food, basic services, healthcare, and education. Slated to eventually include up to 5,500 police and military officers, the GSF aims to regain control of the country by fighting gangs through a broader and more combative mandate, while negotiations are continuing on the political front to pave the way for elections. Observers fear the anti-gang mission will repeat the mistakes of the previous foreign intervention and could throw more fuel on the fire.

A nine-member Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) was established in April 2024, but instead of improving governance it has been embroiled in political infighting and corruption allegations, plunging Haiti into further chaos. Likewise, the MSS, which deployed in late June 2024 to restore security, has failed to quell the gang violence.The mandate of the CPT is due to end on 7 February 2026. So far, it is unclear whether this mandate will be extended or if there will be another kind of transitional process. A national decree has been signed scheduling Haiti’s first general elections since 2016 for two rounds in August and December 2026, but no one really knows what will be possible given the security crisis. The situation has been even more volatile since March, when Vectus Global, a private military company run by controversial US contractor Erik Prince, began launching drone strikes that have already been responsible for dozens of civilian casualties.

Earlier this month, The New Humanitarian spoke to seven Haitian citizens – all but one of them displaced – to find out what they think of their country’s current situation and the new GSF. They described lives of desperation, exhaustion, and hopelessness, and expressed little support for their current leaders or in a foreign intervention. “They took everything from us, but we are still breathing”: Orné Derilia, a 45 year-old single mother of 10 living in the displacement camp at Argentine Bellegarde school.

Orné Derilia.Anne-Aïse Vilmé: I originally come from Carrefour-Feuilles [a neighbourhood southeast of Port-au-Prince

I had a grocery shop and sold cooked food to earn my living. But the bandits set fire to my house and took everything I owned. Now, I find myself with nothing. I have 10 children [between 18 and 30 years old, some of whom she still cares for], I have four sisters, and the bandits burned down their houses too. We are all homeless.

At the time of the first wave [of violence] in 2024, I decided to go and live in Samida [a part of Nazon, a central and densely populated area of the capital], but the bandits chased us away again. I was raped by gangs in Nazon, and had to come to the Argentine Bellegarde camp. The rape was the worst thing that happened to me. I really feel bad about it; when I was a young girl, nothing like that happened to me, and now that I am 45 years old, the bandits did this to me… it bothers me so much. The situation in the camp isn't good. I sleep on the floor. When it rains, my children and I can’t sleep at night because the place where we sleep gets flooded. We have to wait for the rain to stop so that we can dry the place and put the sheets back on to sleep. Moreover, there are many cockroaches and bedbugs that prevent us from sleeping. And nights in the camp are very noisy.

Since I arrived at the camp, the only help I received, in 2024, came from the World Food Programme, which used to bring food and give us money. UNICEF also gave us cash. But now, we don't receive anything – only water. My children and I have been left with nothing. When my neighbours cook, sometimes they give us some food. We always hear that a force will come to fight the gangs, and then they disappear and nothing happens. It’s of no use to us. Sometimes, I buy a bag of water and resell it to be able to feed my children. But at this moment, I'm broke. During the last hurricane [Melissa, in October and November], I was forced to spend all my savings to feed my children. We always hear that a force will come to fight the gangs, and then they disappear and nothing happens. It’s of no use to us. Except for the drones that fall and cause fires, I don't see anything.

When the drones fall, I am constantly afraid and they make a lot of noise. I tell myself that they are going to strike the gangs and that we will have a solution, but then we hear that the bandits are safe, and that, on the contrary, they are invading even more. The day before yesterday, they kidnapped a young man from my neighbourhood and a policeman and they burned them [to death]. If the country has leaders at its helm, this should not happen. But in Haiti, [politicians] are all the same: One day you see a president come to power, he takes office and does nothing. And then, it’s the same thing all over again.

It is the state’s fault that we are in such a situation. If our leaders were responsible people, we, the Haitian people, would not be in this situation… In other countries, presidents take care of their people, whereas in Haiti, the government does not value its own. I want the state to allow me to leave this camp, where hunger gnaws at our stomachs and I have no one to turn to when I need help. The only hope I have left today is my breath. I am still alive, and it is by the grace of God. They took everything from us, but we are still breathing. 

“I can see that we Haitians cannot bring about the change we want”: Lorvens Jean, a former teacher who is currently working as a motorbike driver but wants to join the Haitian National Police. Things are deteriorating in Haiti, above all for the youths. There is no future for them. We suffer from too many shortages in this country. There is unemployment, insecurity, a lack of schools, no roads, and so many other things. The situation is really difficult for many people, if not everyone.  I believe that Kenyans [from the MSS] aimed to provide support to legal forces, but time has passed and I don’t see any change.

The Gang Suppression Force is a beautiful initiative; if there is will and the necessary means, it could lead to a change, because insecurity is today’s biggest issue. If that is addressed, things will automatically be different… We can't solve the current situation through dialogue; any dialogue is impossible. People often say that when a young person is used to carrying guns it will be difficult to take them away from them. That’s why we need some kind of repression to obtain the results we want. If I could pass a message to gangs, I would remind them that we are all Haitians.

So, I agree with the presence of a foreign force. It isn't a new idea: They have been talking about it for four or five years. I can see that we Haitians cannot bring about the change we want. If we can get the support from others, then so be it. And we will have to accompany them in their work.  If some people start working tirelessly right now, we could talk about having elections in two or three months, so that the country starts functioning again. Because if we’re always going to have provisional governments that last three or six months it’s a complete waste. It is a means for [those in power] and their family to get rich; it won´t solve any issue. 

We would have been better off without the Transitional Presidential Council. They brought no improvement; it’s gone from bad to worse. 

I don’t have children yet, but I wouldn’t wish my children to go through what I have experienced. And I hope that those involved will show a sense of patriotism. Let us love our country, think of the people and the future of our youth for the good of the country.

If I could pass a message to gangs, I would remind them that we are all Haitians. I understand that they find themselves in this situation because of frustrations or because they lost someone close to them. But let's be conscious… Lay down your arms. Too much blood has been shed, we’ve had too many dead, we have gone through too much.

“You sleep, and rats crawl over you”: Christie Innocent, a single mother and shopkeeper living in the displacement camp at Argentine Bellegarde school. I am 25 years old, I have three children, and I live in the camp at the Argentine Bellegarde school. I have been jobless for two years; all my savings are gone. I used to live in Carrefour-Feuilles. The bandits set my house on fire and I had to run and leave everything behind. They burnt everything I had, I couldn't save anything.

Everything I try to do falls through. I rented a house but couldn’t stay there for more than two months because I had to run from the bandits again. My shop and my business were burned down.

We’ve had enough. Our children can't even go to school because we can't afford it. We have nothing left. 

At the camp, no one brings us anything. We just complain. It’s December, a holiday month, but we can’t celebrate anything and we can’t take the month out of the calendar either. 

Here, we can't sleep: Cockroaches and bedbugs keep us awake at night. You sleep, and rats crawl over you. It doesn't make sense. We’ve resigned ourselves to our circumstances, but we’re not comfortable. Sometimes the toilets overflow, and there’s piles of rubbish everywhere. We have water, but it isn’t good for us: It gives us scabies. It's well-water.

It’s December, a holiday month, but we can’t celebrate anything and we can’t take the month out of the calendar either. 

But we have nowhere else to go. We don’t have money to start a business and we can’t be at peace because bullets are being fired everywhere. I really don’t see what the new force does. When they [foreign forces] come, they receive the order to confront the gangs, but they are just like tourists. The force has done nothing for us, because our situation doesn’t change. On the contrary, when they come to our country, the situation deteriorates. 

Now I'm terribly scared of drones. They don't even drop them where they should. They should target those who hurt us, who make us suffer injustice. Instead, it is our hearts that bear the brunt of the shock.

It is true that the police are here to protect and serve, but not all police officers actually do it. Some, when we demonstrate to demand our rights, throw tear gas and shoot at us, even though we don't protest to cause trouble, but rather to demand what we need. They throw stones at us and treat us badly, even though we have the same blood running through our veins. They are just satisfied with having a monthly salary that allows them to live. When we protest, we simply express what we need, we try to talk to the state to ask for support, but they prevent us from approaching the state and making ourselves heard. 

I don’t know much about politics, but the people in power do nothing for us. I don´t know what will happen on 7 February with the Transitional Presidential Council, but if other people can take office, then let that happen because those who are currently in power don’t do anything useful for us.

What we ask is for the state to take charge of our situation. They put us in this situation, so they must take responsibility for dealing with gangs so that we can live in peace. 

We ask [politicians] to unite to govern the country because we can’t take it anymore. We have suffered for too long. All we do is run once and again, without finding solutions… Stress kills us. We are a sick country that doesn’t even know what kind of sickness it is suffering from.

“These kinds of forces don't come to help us”: Kelly Antistrès, Rap singer living at the Marie-Jeanne high school displacement camp.

I don’t agree with having a foreign force in Haiti, and I don't agree with what they want to do. Almost everybody feels the same way.  These kinds of forces don’t come to help us, but to continue the government’s work. They don’t come to protect the people, only some individuals. But we need to restore security for everybody, not only a few. 

Those who come never have any real solution and they don’t give us space to solve our problems ourselves. We saw what they did in 2004 [when an international force led a military intervention in support of the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide]: Poor people were killed, burnt, their houses destroyed. Children and adults suffered. These forces leave the people with many more problems. When they enter, these forces seem to be programmed to mingle with the police, prevent the people from being heard, prevent demonstrations and take control of the system. They block institutions, control the leaders: We can’t vote; we can’t say anything. Now, there is no longer any form of resistance because, in this situation, those who feel most vulnerable can’t act to change anything. 

We don’t have politicians who really work for the people. They don’t do anything concrete. I think holding elections is possible, but before that we need to ensure a minimum of stability – otherwise the elections will be just a formality and bring no change.  I think we need to organise and act by ourselves. The people must take control of their destiny, live together, protect each other, and rebuild the country. Nobody can do it for us – not foreigners, not the government.

“The GSF, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other”: A displaced journalist who works selling food and preferred to remain anonymous.
I am a displaced person. Currently, I have a micro-business, and sometimes I work as a moto-taxi. I was displaced because the gangs created by the state pushed us out of Carrefour-Feuilles. It is the state that pushed us out, and it is the state who wants to push us to fight those who work for them [the gangs].

One doesn’t need glasses to see that the security situation is bad… There are displaced people in Martissant [south of Port-au-Prince], in Bicentenaire [downtown], Cité-Soleil [one of the poorest and most violence-stricken areas in the capital], and you can’t reach them [because it is too dangerous].

But the GSF, it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. We have received foreign forces since 1915 [when the US occupation started]. I could even say since 1492 [when Christopher Colombus reached the island of Hispaniola that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic]. We have had many foreign forces, and they have never played in our favour. We had one in 1492, in 1915, then in 1994, in 2004 with the MINUSTAH [The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti], then the MINUJUSTH [The United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti], and others all the way to the MSS.

Now I hear talking about the GSF.  However, we had a National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantling and Reintegration, whose mission was to disarm gangs, and it brought no results. That’s because the father of the gangs was a founding member of the CNDDR. So, nothing will bear fruit. All [authorities] do is engage in demagoguery to waste and squander the country’s money even more on security. They don’t do anything serious.

The MSS achieved nothing. They wasted money. They gave tanks as gifts to the gangs, who have burned down our houses, put people out on the streets, looted and stolen – in concert with previous governments. It was previous governments that created the gangs; they formed and financed the gangs. They made them grow and guided them. In fact, the gangs are just doing their job. 

Personally, I would like to have a force come, but to really solve things seriously. The whole system needs to be rebuilt. In the United States, there are two political parties, but in Haiti we have no fewer than 5,000. We need to eliminate all these political parties, destroy all the abolotcho [opportunists], and get rid of the fake politicians, the thieving politicians, and the CPT. I do not recognise their mandate. 

All I want is for credible and honest elections to be held, for the people to choose someone from among themselves to take power, and for that person to restore security as it was before.

I'm not saying that elections can be held in working-class neighbourhoods where access is impossible. But I would like elections to be held, even if only where we are currently, even if a president is elected by only 50 or 55 voters. And then with a president who comes to power legitimately we could dislodge the people we call gangs, whom I consider victims too. It is the state who gave them work to do, but now they have surpassed the state: They don’t need it and do the work on their own.

To the state I say: Since you created the gangs and fed them, take your responsibilities and eradicate them.

“We have no expectation of this force”: Gabriel Tcharly, merchant and driver, president of the Argentine Bellegarde school internally displaced camp.
I lost everything, my entire fortune. I lost my car, my cold storage room, my house, my motorbike and my dog – a German Shepherd that earned me money when I sold its puppies. When I fled my neighbourhood, Nazon, I lost about $70,000 worth of my belongings.

But even if I suffer here, I don’t make a fuss; I don’t ask for assistance. I am the president [of the camp], and there are people who are in a worse situation than mine. 

When [humanitarian] organisations come, I let the internally displaced people tell them what they need so that they can get it.

[The International Organization for Migration] used to help us. But in November [2023], they did an assessment here, and then we stopped receiving anything. In January [2024], they did another assessment, and then in March [2024] again. But nothing.

It’s not always a good idea to chase after foreigners, because you give them your money to do a job and the job doesn’t even get done. It’s like washing your hands and then wiping them on the floor.

The first time we received food again was in December [2024], when other actors came. We asked them to distribute it. They made a first gesture, but it was not much, and it was neither hygienic nor correct.

The [National Directorate for Drinking Water and Sanitation] provides us with water, Fadhris [a local organisation that offers educational and economic opportunities to women] comes with a mobile clinic, and Mojed [Youth Movement for Development in Haiti] teaches children. But there isn’t enough medical assistance. People suffer in the camp. 

I see that the system still hasn’t changed. The people displaced in camps still don’t have a stable situation. They don’t have anywhere to go, and the relocation subsidy they receive is very low. Renting a house currently costs about $2,000 to $3,000 a year. If you are given 100,000 gourdes [the equivalent of about $760], you can’t rent a house. 

I’d like the state to do something for all the areas destroyed by armed gangs. I wish everybody could return to their neighbourhoods, because we have been put in a situation that is not good for us. The camp confines us. It prevents us from progressing in terms of education, it makes people more ignorant…

In the camp, tension rises between people, and everyone takes out their frustration on each other. If someone sees another person eating well while they themselves don’t, they start to hate them. Some children and young people spend two or three years here without going to school. If a child was four years old when they arrived, they are now eight and still at the same level of schooling. We are holding children back, when the state should be advancing the education of young people…

We have no expectations of this [GSF] force. This money could be used to do something for the country. [Authorities] could further strengthen security and give the police more ammunition to fight with. But we prefer to call on foreigners to come to our aid, which means that our national police force is useless. With this money, they could have provided more training for the national police. 

It’s not always a good idea to chase after foreigners, because you give them your money to do a job and the job doesn’t even get done. It’s like washing your hands and then wiping them on the floor.

“The days ahead look very bleak”: Marie Yolène Gilles, director of the NGO Fondasyon Je Klere. We are in 2025, the MSS was here for a year, and if we make an assessment of the situation the population is not satisfied with the mission; not even authorities are.

Gangs’ strongholds keep increasing, the number of displaced people keeps rising, and let's not talk about crime rates. There are no schools, churches are looted, women are raped, and hospitals are destroyed. The environment is in a catastrophic situation; Haiti has no reserves, the country is becoming poorer. 

When we talk about the displaced, the figures provided by international organisations are not reliable because they only take into account people in displaced camps. But today, most of the people [in Port-au-Prince] are displaced. In residential areas, where a large part of the middle-class lives, people are displaced but they aren’t registered by national or international organisations because they are staying with relatives. I myself am displaced – living at my friend’s place.  

Now a new force has arrived. But with what mission? What mandate? What operational strength? What are this mission’s commitments to the Haitian population? We don’t know. And can they really operate without the Haitian police? I don’t think so. They are foreigners who don't know the country, don't speak Kreyol or French. How will they operate without credible guides? To operate, they need to be able to enter the neighbourhoods with locals who know the streets, the areas, the gangs strongholds. 

The days ahead look very bleak. The Transitional Presidential Council’s mandate comes to an end on 7 February and there won’t be elections. If we make an assessment of the CPT, they haven’t done anything: We have no security, the country is plunged into darkness, the gangs are much better armed and more aggressive. 

I wonder: If we have the national police, the Armed Forces, the mercenaries, the MSS and the GSF, why hasn’t the security issue been solved?

The government is criticised. It is CARICOM [the Caribbean regional bloc] who decided to have a nine-member council without taking into account Haiti’s reality. How can a poor country, where deprivation is obvious, be led by nine people receiving excessively high wages, with a high level of expenses and corruption? With their per diems, their expenses, and all their benefits and advantages, they lead a good life and let the population starve. That’s why I urge the authorities to move closer to the law, to the constitution.  

These testimonies were edited for length and clarity. Daniela Mohor contributed additional reporting and editing from Santiago, Chile. Edited by Andrew Gully.

Photo Credit: Council on Foreign Relations