Kenya is heading a U.N.-backed international force tasked with containing the gangs that control most of Port-au-Prince. The deployment faces a legal challenge in Kenya, but President William Ruto's government has gone ahead, with backing from the United States.

Port-au-Prince

Kenya has dispatched the first group of its security personnel to Haiti as part of a United Nations-backed international mission. This mission aims to curb the influence of gangs that have taken control of much of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The deployment has faced legal challenges within Kenya, though President William Ruto's administration has proceeded with the initiative, receiving support from the United States.

The United Nations Security Council has sanctioned the deployment of a multinational security support mission to assist the Haitian National Police in their efforts against criminal gangs. Kenya's police contingent will lead this mission. Haiti has experienced multiple foreign interventions since the early 1900s, including a prolonged occupation by the United States and the UN stabilization mission known as MINUSTAH, which commenced in 2004 after the ousting of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Many Haitians have mixed feelings towards international forces due to negative experiences with past interventions. MINUSTAH was associated with a cholera outbreak that claimed at least 9,000 lives and various instances of sexual abuse. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, Haiti has descended into chaos, displacing nearly 400,000 people and resulting in nearly 3,000 fatalities this year.

A transitional presidential council was established recently to hand over power to an elected government by February 2026. However, stabilizing the country remains a prerequisite. The cyclical nature of foreign interventions in Haiti often undermines long-term stability. Many Haitians hope that this latest intervention will help restore peace without repeating the failures of previous missions.



First group of security personnel from Kenya arrives in Haiti

He has been displaced several times in the past year. Darmiti Hussel was a bus driver and was injured during a recent fight between rival gangs that now control most of Haiti's capital. He's now living in a government building unable to go back home. I am hoping international forces will come to Haiti to disarm the gang so we can have a life once again. But if they're going to come here to do what the United Nations did in the past, I hope they don't. The United Nations Security Council has authorized the deployment of a multinational security support mission to Haiti to assist the Haitian National Police in their fight against criminal gangs. Kenya has volunteered a police contingent that will lead the mission, but it's not the first time foreign troops have been deployed to Haiti. Since the early 1900, there's been at least three foreign interventions including a decades-long occupation by the United States. The last foreign force to leave the country was a UN stabilization mission known as MINUSTAH, which was deployed in 2004 after the removal of President Jean-Bertrand d'Aristide. Most Haitians associate MINUSTAH to a cholera outbreak that killed at least 9,000 people. The outbreak was linked to a United Nations peacekeeping base. They also relate it to sexual abuse. I would like to see forces come and help us go back to our lives. I don't want them to come and rape women, but to help us. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, Haiti has been in chaos. Nearly 400,000 people have been displaced by violence and almost 3,000 have been killed this year. A transitional presidential council was set up last month to hand over power to an elected government by February 2026. But the country needs to be stabilized first. We've seen this cycle throughout Haiti's history, right, of these repeated foreign interventions and whatever sort of short-term gains they might provide. They've always sort of undermined the long-term consolidation of a sovereign democracy in Haiti. And ultimately, it's that weakness of the state, the lack of a social contract and the lack of a representative government in Haiti that perpetuates this cycle. And so we see how these things interrelate and perpetuate one another. And, you know, sadly, it looks like that's more of the same coming. Haitians say they need the violence to end and are hoping things will be different this time.

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