Foreign law enforcement officials began arriving in Haiti on Tuesday, more than a year and a half after Haiti's prime minister asked other countries for help in halting the rampant gang violence rocking the Caribbean nation.
Footage shared on social media showed dozens of armed men in military uniforms disembarking from a Kenya Airways plane at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
The officers are part of a contingent of police from eight countries deployed across the capital to retake control of the city from dozens of armed groups that have stormed police stations, freed prisoners and committed killings with impunity.
More than 7,500 people have been killed in the violence since an appeal for international aid was made in October 2022, according to the United Nations, with more than 2,500 killed so far this year alone.
With the national government weakened and the presidency vacant, dozens of gangs seized large parts of the capital earlier this year, blocking roads, kidnapping and killing civilians, and raiding entire neighborhoods. According to the United Nations, some 200,000 people were forced to flee their homes between March and May.
The first wave of 400 Kenyan police officers are now arriving to fight the gangs, an operation largely organized by the Biden administration. Kenyan police will be the first to send a force expected to be 2,500 strong.
“You are performing an important mission that transcends borders and cultures,” Kenyan President William Ruto told the troops on Monday. “Your deployment to Haiti will bring hope and relief to communities torn apart by violence and in turmoil.”
Kenyan police are expected to tackle a long list of priorities, including retaking the country's main port and freeing major highways from criminal gangs who extort money from drivers.
“The gang checkpoints on these roads are a major source of revenue for the gangs, who extort money from everyone who passes through or kidnap people and demand huge ransoms,” said William O'Neill, a U.N. human rights expert in Haiti.
“Though long overdue, the arrival of the Kenyans comes at just the right time,” he said, especially since a new police chief and prime minister have been appointed in recent weeks.
A small team from Kenya arrived in May to begin preparations but found equipment was in short supply, sending the United States, the mission's main supplier, scrambling to find armored vehicles and other gear.
“The Kenyans don't want to be in a mission where they show up and don't leave the base for a month,” Dennis B. Hankins, the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, said in an interview. “They want to see right away that they're making an impact.”
Hankins said Haitian authorities are facing tough decisions, including what to do first: regain control of Port-au-Prince's central hospital or secure the port to keep a steady flow of fuel, food and other supplies.
He said the Kenyans would “support” the Haitian police but would not replace them, to ensure that their withdrawal at the end of the mission would not create a “security vacuum.”
The deployment, officially called the Multinational Security Assistance Mission, is expected to last at least a year, according to the U.S. government. Authorized by the United Nations and funded primarily by the U.S., the mission's goal is to assist the Haitian police and establish enough stability to allow the transitional government to hold elections to choose a new president and parliament.
In preparation for the mission, U.S. troops have flown more than 90 times to Haiti, delivering more than 2,600 tons of supplies, and private contractors are building quarters for Kenyan officers at Port-au-Prince's Toussaint Louverture Airport.
In May, Haitian authorities began clearing hundreds of homes around the airport that made it easy for gangs to hide and fire on planes, forcing it to close. The airport has since reopened to commercial flights, but gang leaders say they view the Kenyans as invaders and intend to fight them.
The ambassador added that the gangs did not fight back while preparations were underway at the airport, a likely sign that they were not willing to engage in direct combat with specialized forces.
“Once the airport was open and functioning and we started seeing military aircraft flying over it, it had a huge psychological impact on the residents,” Hankins said.
Many experts are cautious in assessing the international force, mainly because there is no comprehensive plan to address the root causes of many of Haiti's governance problems beyond addressing deteriorating security.
After Prime Minister Ariel Henry was forced to resign in late April, it took several weeks for political parties to agree on who should serve on a new transitional presidential council. It took a full month for Henry's successor to be installed.
Former United Nations official Gary Conille took on the role in late May.
He said in a social media post late Monday that he hoped the mission would be the last for Haiti, which has a long history of international intervention, including ones marred by accusations of sexual exploitation and poor sanitation that led to the spread of cholera.
so far, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad, Jamaica and Kenya have officially contributed personnel to the mission.
However, the mission was not adequately funded.
Kenyan officials estimate the cost will be $600 million, but the UN has only provided $21 million. The United States has pledged more than $300 million to the mission.
The Kenyan deployment comes a month after Kenya's Ruto visited the U.S. at Biden's invitation. The four-day visit was the first state visit by a Kenyan president in 20 years and the first by an African leader since 2008. Haiti's biggest backers and allies — the United States, Canada and France — have been reluctant to send their own troops to Haiti.
Kenya was the first country to publicly offer to do so, and many experts thought the mission would be more well-received if it was led by an African country.
Experts say Ruto, who won a closely contested presidential election in 2022, was using the deployment to further his profile on the international stage.
Mr Ruto's deployment comes as he faces massive nationwide protests against a finance bill that critics say will further increase the already high cost of living.
Police fired tear gas and gunfire was heard as thousands of protesters spilled into the streets around parliament in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday. At least four people were shot, one of them fatally, according to human rights groups.
A team of Haitian police commanders recently visited Nairobi, where Mr. Ruto met with Haiti's Transitional Presidential Council.
At the police camp in Nairobi, officers received physical and weapons training and new helmets and bulletproof vests, according to interviews with officers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly to reporters.
They also took intensive courses in French and Creole.
In addition to protecting key infrastructure, officers are expected to eventually secure the presidential palace, which remains Haiti's symbolic seat of power despite remaining in ruins after the 2010 earthquake.
But the 400-person contingent that arrived Tuesday is only a small step toward a larger operation that will require many more people and resources to be effective, said Gédéon Jean, executive director of the Center for Human Rights Analysis and Research, a Haitian organization that has been forced to suspend operations due to the escalating violence.
“There's still a lot of work to be done,” Jiang said.
That first group is likely to “play it safe” at first, but as more personnel arrive from other countries, their task will be difficult, especially because they have not worked together before, do not speak the same language or share an “operational framework,” said Sophie Ruttenburg, a visiting scholar at New York University's Center for International Cooperation who has worked in Haiti.
“Early deployment of this force would make it very vulnerable,” Ruttenber said.
Eugene Chen, a former U.N. official who follows the situation in Haiti closely, said the international mission appears to have been born out of a desperate desire to do something. Unless it finds a way to support Haiti's political process, the mission could escalate violence, Chen said.
“It's not clear that this is the right answer,” Chen added.
Andre Pourtre Contributing reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti David C. Adams From Miami.