Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness at the Pegasus Hotel during a meeting on Haiti at the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken huddled with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica behind closed doors on March 11 to urgently help find a way to ease Haiti’s growing violent crisis as embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry faces calls to resign or agree to a transitional council.

The closed-door meeting did not include Mr. Henry, who has been locked out of his own country while traveling abroad, due to surging unrest and violence by criminal gangs who have overrun much of Haiti’s capital and closed down its main international airports.

Also read | US military airlifts embassy personnel from Haiti, bolsters security

Mr. Henry remained in Puerto Rico and was taking steps to return to Haiti once feasible, according to a brief statement from the U.S. territory’s Department of State.

While leaders met behind closed doors, Jimmy Chérizier, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, told reporters that if the international community continues down the current road, “it will plunge Haiti into further chaos.”

“We Haitians have to decide who is going to be the head of the country and what model of government we want,” said Chérizier, a former elite police officer leader of a gang federation known as G9 Family and Allies. “We are also going to figure out how to get Haiti out of the misery it’s in now.”

The meeting in Jamaica was organized by members of a regional trade bloc known as Caricom, which for months has pressed for a transitional government in Haiti while protests in the country have demanded mr. Henry’s resignation.

“The international community must work together with Haitians towards a peaceful political transition,” U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Nichols will attend the meeting.

Concerns remain that a long-sought solution will remain elusive. Caricom said in a statement on Friday announcing the urgent meeting in Jamaica that while “we are making considerable progress, the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be.”

Mia Mottley, Barbados’ prime minister, said that up to 90% of proposals that Haitian stakeholders have “put on the table” are similar. These include an “urgent need” to create a presidential council to help identify a new prime minister to establish a government.

Her comments were briefly streamed by Caricom, in what appeared to have been a mistake, and then were abruptly cut off.

The meeting was held as powerful gangs continued to attack key government targets across Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. Since Feb. 29, gunmen have burned police stations, closed the main international airports and raided the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Scores of people have been killed, and more than 15,000 are homeless after fleeing neighborhoods raided by gangs. Food and water are dwindling as stands and stores selling to impoverished Haitians run out of goods. The main port in Port-au-Prince remains closed, stranding dozens of containers with critical supplies.

Mr. Henry landed in Puerto Rico last week after being denied entry into the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

When the attacks began, Henry was in Kenya pushing for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country that has been delayed by a court ruling.

A growing number of people are demanding Henry’s resignation. He has not made any public comment since the attacks began.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday urged Haiti’s gangs “to immediately cease their destabilizing actions,” including sexual violence and the recruitment of children, and said it expects that a multinational force will deploy as soon as possible to help end the violence. It urged the international community to support the Haitian National Police by backing the force’s deployment.

Council members also expressed concern at the limited political progress and urged all political actors to allow free and fair legislative and presidential elections.

A U.N. delegation attending Monday’s meeting includes the secretary-general’s chief of staff Courtenay Rattray, Undersecretary-General Atul Khare, who is in charge of U.N. logistics, and Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča, who is in charge of the Americas in the U.N. political office.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for the urgent deployment of the multinational force and that the mission be adequately funded, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Currently, funding is at only $10.8 million, with officials in Kenya demanding more than $230 million.

Police patrol a street after authorities extended the state of emergency amid gang violence that has threatened to bring down the government, forcing thousands to flee their homes, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on March 8, 2024. File

The U.S. military said on Sunday it has carried out an operation in Haiti to airlift non-essential embassy personnel from the country and added U.S. forces to bolster embassy security, as the Caribbean nation reels under a state of emergency.

The operation was the latest sign of Haiti’s troubles as gang violence threatens to bring down the government and has led thousands to flee their homes.

“This airlift of personnel into and out of the embassy is consistent with our standard practice for embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,” the U.S. military’s Southern Command said in a statement.

Haiti entered a state of emergency last Sunday after fighting escalated while Prime Minister Ariel Henry was in Nairobi seeking a deal for the long-delayed U.N.-backed mission.

Kenya announced last year it would lead the force but months of domestic legal wrangling have effectively placed the mission on hold.

On Saturday, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto about the Haiti crisis and the two men underscored their commitment to a multinational security mission to restore order.

In Southern Command’s statement, it said Washington remained committed to those goals.

“Our embassy remains focused on advancing U.S. government efforts to support the Haitian people, including mobilizing support for the Haitian National Police, expediting the deployment of the United Nations-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission and accelerating a peaceful transition of power via free and fair elections,” it said.

Dozens of foreigners, including many from the United States and Canada, are stranded in Haiti, desperately trying to leave the violence-torn country where anti-government gangs are battling police and have already shut down both of the country’s international airports.

They were in Haiti for reasons ranging from adoptions to missionary and humanitarian work. Now, they are locked down in hotels and homes, unable to leave by air, sea or land as Haiti remains paralyzed by the mayhem and the gangs’ demands that Prime Minister Ariel Henry resign.

Also Read |UN Security Council raises alarm on ‘critical’ situation in violence-gripped Haiti

“We are seriously trapped,” said Richard Phillips, a 65-year-old from the Canadian capital, Ottawa, who has traveled to Haiti more than three dozen times to work on projects for the United Nations, USAID and now, a Haitian nonprofit called Papyrus.

After arriving in Haiti in late February, Mr. Phillips flew to the southern coastal city of Les Cayes to teach farmers and others how to operate and repair tractors, cultivators, planters and other machinery in an area known for its corn, rice, peas and beans.

Once his work was done, Mr. Phillips flew to the capital, Port-au-Prince, only to find that his flight had been canceled. He stayed at a nearby hotel, but the gunfire was relentless, so moved on to a safer area.

“We are actually quite concerned about where this is going,” he told The Associated Press by phone. “If the police force collapses, there’s going to be anarchy in the streets, and we might be here a month or more.”

Scores of people have been killed in the gang attacks that began Feb. 29, and more than 15,000 people have been left homeless by the violence.

Earlier this week, Haiti’s government extended a state of emergency and nightly curfew to try and quell the violence, but the attacks continue.

Gangs have burned police stations, released more than 4,000 inmates from Haiti’s two biggest prisons and attacked Port-au-Prince’s main airport, which remains closed. As a result, the prime minister has been unable to return home after a trip to Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country.

Mr. Phillips said he has exhausted all options to leave Haiti by air, noting that a helicopter operator couldn’t get insured for such a flight and a private plane pilot said that approach would be too risky. As for trying to trek to the neighboring Dominican Republic: “It’s possible we could walk miles and miles to get to a border, but I’m sure that’s dangerous as well.”

Despite being stuck, Mr. Phillips said he remains calm.

“I’ve been shot at many times in Haiti and have bullet holes in my truck,” he said. “Personally, I’m kind of used to it. But I’m sure other people, it’s quite traumatic for them.”

Yvonne Trimble, who has lived in Haiti for more than 40 years, is among the U.S. expats who can’t leave.

She and her husband are in the northern coastal city of Cap-Haitien, waiting for a private evacuation flight for missionaries that had already been canceled once.

“We’re completely locked down,” she said by phone. “This is the worst I’ve seen it. It’s total anarchy.”

Trimble noted how a mob surrounded the airport in Cap-Haitien recently and began throwing rocks and bottles following a rumor that the prime minister was going to land.

She and her husband are scheduled to fly out next week courtesy of Florida-based Missionary Flights International.

The company’s vice president of administration, Roger Sands, said Missionary Flights International has received up to 40 calls from people hoping to leave or remain on standby.

“We’re getting phone calls constantly,” he said. “The big concern is that every time people see an airplane, they think the prime minister is coming back to the country, and there’s a large segment of the society that doesn’t want that to happen. So we don’t want to be the first ones in.”

It’s not clear when Haiti’s two international airports will reopen.

“This is difficult for us,” Mr. Sands said. “We hate seeing our planes on the ground when there’s need.”

A missionary couple who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of their safety said they have been living in Haiti for several years but won’t leave because they’re in the middle of adopting a 6-year-old boy.

“There is no choice to be made. We’re here as family,” the woman said.

Meanwhile, her husband was supposed to fly to the U.S. last week for medical care since he has Type 1 diabetes and has developed a neuropathy that causes severe pain in his legs and back, and muscle-wasting in his legs, making it difficult to move.

For now, the four appointments he made are on hold.

“It’s a little frustrating,” he said.

Also unable to leave are Matt Prichard, a 35-year-old from Lebanon, Ohio, and his family. Prichard, COO of a missionary, has two children — an infant and toddler — with his Haitian wife, as well as an 18-year-old son.

The rest of his family hasn’t been able to get documents to enter the U.S. yet, so they will all stay in southern Haiti for now.

“We unfortunately seem to be stuck,” he said.

Mr. Prichard noted that his son is stressed out by the situation, telling him he should leave because ‘this isn’t a good place for you. Just get out of here.’

But Mr. Prichard said, “As a father, you can’t leave your kids or your family.”

He said the local grocery store has nearly run out of basic goods and gas has been hard to find.

“The expat community here is really our solace,” he said. “It’s that connection, those relationships, that really are getting us through.”

A demonstrator holds up an Haitian flag during protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The UN Security Council expressed its concern over the deteriorating situation in violence-gripped Haiti on Wednesday, as Washington ramped up pressure on absent Prime Minister Ariel Henry to secure a political settlement.

Armed gangs who control swaths of the country launched a coordinated effort to oust Mr. Henry last week, attacking the airport, prisons and police stations, while threatening a full-scale civil war.

The U.S. on Wednesday called for Mr. Henry to take steps to “finalise a political accord,” but did not urge his resignation — a key demand of powerful gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier.

Power-sharing deal

In power since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, Mr. Henry was due to leave office in February but instead agreed to a power-sharing deal with the Opposition until new elections are held. Mr. Cherizier warned on Tuesday that the worsening chaos would lead to civil war and mass bloodshed unless Mr. Henry stood down.

At least 15,000 people have fled the worst-hit parts of Port-au-Prince.

Malta’s UN ambassador Vanessa Frazier said that every Security Council member “shared the same concerns, that the security situation is obviously concerning.” Amid the latest unrest, Mr. Henry has been unable to return home. He was in Kenya to push for the deployment of a UN-backed multinational police mission to help stabilize his country when the attempt to oust him began.

Haitian soldiers patrol near the Toussaint Louverture International Airport following a gunfight with armed gangs on the surroundings of the airport, as the government declared state of emergency, amid violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 4.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Heavily armed gangs tried to seize control of Haiti’s main international airport on March 4, exchanging gunfire with police and soldiers in the latest attack on key government sites in an explosion of violence that includes a mass escape from the country’s two biggest prisons.

The Toussaint Louverture International Airport was closed when the attack occurred, with no planes operating and no passengers on site.

Associated Press journalists saw an armoured truck on the tarmac shooting at gangs to try and prevent them from entering airport grounds as scores of employees and other workers fled from whizzing bullets.

It wasn’t immediately clear as of late Monday whether the attack, which was the biggest one in Haiti’s history involving the airport, was successful.

Last week, the airport was struck briefly by bullets amid ongoing gang attacks, but gangs did not enter the airport nor seize control of it.

The attack occurred just hours after authorities in Haiti ordered a night-time curfew following violence in which armed gang members overran the two biggest prisons and freed thousands of inmates over the weekend.

“The secretary-general is deeply concerned by the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Port-au-Prince, where armed gangs have intensified their attacks on critical infrastructure over the weekend,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

A 72-hour state of emergency began on Sunday night. The government said it would try to track down the escaped inmates, including from a penitentiary were the vast majority were in pre-trial detention, with some accused of slayings, kidnappings and other crimes.

“The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” said a statement from Finance Minister Patrick Boivert, the acting Prime Minister.

Gangs already were estimated to control up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, the capital. They are increasingly coordinating their actions and choosing once unthinkable targets such as the Central Bank.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry travelled to Kenya last week to try to salvage support for a United Nations-backed security force to help stabilise Haiti in its conflict with the increasingly powerful crime groups.

Mr. Dujarric said the secretary-general stressed the need for urgent action, especially in providing financial support for the mission, “to address the pressing security requirements of the Haitian people and prevent the country from plunging further into chaos.”

Haiti’s National Police has roughly 9,000 officers to provide security for more than 11 million people, according to the United Nations. They are routinely overwhelmed and outgunned.

The deadly weekend marked a new low in Haiti’s downward spiral of violence. At least nine people had been killed since Thursday — four of them police officers — as gangs stepped up coordinated attacks on state institutions in Port-au-Prince, including the international airport and national soccer stadium.

But the attack on the National Penitentiary on Saturday shocked Haitians. All but 98 of the 3,798 inmates being held at the penitentiary escaped, according to the Office of Citizen Protection. Meanwhile, at the Croix-des-Bouquets prison, 1,033 escaped, including 298 convicts.

The official said on March 4 that it was seriously concerned about the safety of judges, prosecutors, victims, attorneys and others following the mass escape.

It added that it “deplored and condemned the policy of nonchalance” demonstrated by government officials amid the attacks. Following the raid at the penitentiary, three bodies with gunshot wounds lay at the prison entrance on Sunday.

In another neighbourhood, the bloodied corpses of two men with their hands tied behind the backs lay face down as residents walked past roadblocks set up with burning tires.

Among the few dozen people who chose to stay in prison are 18 former Colombian soldiers accused of working as mercenaries in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

“Please, please help us,” one of the men, Francisco Uribe, said in a message widely shared on social media. “They are massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells.” Colombia’s Foreign Ministry has called on Haiti to provide “special protection” for the men. A second Port-au-Prince prison containing around 1,400 inmates also was overrun.

Gunfire was reported in several neighbourhoods in the capital. Internet service for many residents was down on Sunday as Haiti’s top mobile network said a fibre optic cable connection was slashed during the rampage.

After gangs opened fire at Haiti’s international airport last week, the U.S. Embassy said it was halting all official travel to the country. On Sunday night, it urged all American citizens to depart as soon as possible.

The Biden administration, which has refused to commit troops to any multinational force for Haiti while offering money and logistical support, said it was monitoring the rapidly deteriorating security situation with grave concern.

The surge in attacks follows violent protests that turned deadlier in recent days as the Prime Minister went to Kenya seeking to move ahead on the proposed U.N.-backed security mission to be led by that East African country.

Mr. Henry took over as Prime Minister following Moise’s assassination and has postponed plans to hold Parliamentary and Presidential elections, which haven’t happened in almost a decade.

Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now runs a gang federation, has claimed responsibility for the surge in attacks. He said the goal is to capture Haiti’s police chief and government Ministers and prevent Mr. Henry’s return.

The Prime Minister has shrugged off calls for him to resign and didn’t comment when asked if he felt it was safe to come home.

File photo: Students walk past a burning barricade that was set up by members of the police protesting bad police governance in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

The story so far: Around a year after Haiti approached the United Nations seeking urgent help to combat deadly gang violence, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has approved international intervention in the form of a foreign security mission, led by Kenya, to restore security, protect critical infrastructure and control spiralling violence in the country.

On October 2, the Council voted to adopt the resolution drafted by the United States and Ecuador, with 13 of the 15 members voting in favour of the mission. Condemning widespread violence, criminal activities and human rights abuses that have undermined the peace and security of the region, the member countries decided that the mission may adopt urgent temporary measures in coordination with the Haitian National Police.

After the vote, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry thanked the UNSC and said, “The bell of liberation sounded. … We couldn’t wait any longer!” Haiti’s Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus also hailed the “historic” resolution as a “glimmer of hope for the people that have for too long suffered the consequences of a multi-pronged crisis.”

Haiti has experienced a surge in violence over the past year as armed groups took control of large parts of the country, including the capital Port-au-Prince. This has resulted in widespread killings of nearly 2,800 people, including 80 minors, between October 2022 and June 2023. Human rights groups have reported a rise in sexual violence and crimes against women. In addition to this, mass looting and burning of houses have led to the displacement of thousands of people, with around 200,000 fleeing their homes. As per estimates, almost half the population is in need of humanitarian assistance.

Why is the UN sending a multinational security mission to Haiti?

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry first sought international support to assist the national police in October last year after the country plunged into a crisis when a group of gangs called “G9 and Family” seized control of the entry of the main fuel port Varreux in the capital protesting the PM’s decision to cut fuel subsidies. The blockade brought the country to a standstill and led to massive shortages. The lack of gas and diesel adversely affected transportation and forced several hospitals and other medical institutions that relied on fuel-powered generators to halt operations. A UNICEF report at the time claimed that the operations of three-quarters of the country’s major hospitals were hit due to the blockade.

Also Read | UN chief says Haiti urgently needs international security force and humanitarian aid

To make matters worse, there was a shortage of bottled water in the backdrop of a new outbreak of cholera. As the crisis deepened and overwhelmed the short-staffed police force, Haitian leaders turned to the international community for help, seeking a specialised armed force to counter gangs and their sponsors.

However, the wait was long. The U.S. and the United Nations were hesitant to take the lead. The stalemate ended in July this year after Kenya proposed to head the multinational force, following which the resolution was forwarded to the UNSC. This was a significant step, as approval from the UNSC is crucial to give international intervention weightage under international law.

What do we know about the mission?

Unlike the U.N. peacekeeping mission to Haiti that ended in 2017, the multi-national security mission (MSS) approved by the UNSC will not be operated by the United Nations. Kenya has volunteered to lead the force. Other countries like the Bahamas, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda have also offered support. 

The resolution says that the force will provide “operational support” to the Haitian National Police, including building its capacity to counter gangs, improve security conditions in the country and secure ports, airports and critical intersections. Notably, the resolution adds that the forces will have the authority to make arrests in coordination with Haitian police. It also intends to create favourable conditions in the country to pave the way for elections. Polls have not taken place in Haiti since 2016.

The definite strength of the force in Haiti has not been specified in the resolution, although discussions suggested that 2,000 personnel would be part of the mission. The Kenyan government had previously volunteered to send 1,000 officers of its national police force to assist and train Haiti’s police force.

The United States, meanwhile, has made it clear that it won’t send its troops. It, however, has pledged $100 million in logistical support like intelligence, communications, airlift operations and medical aid. The mission has been approved for one year with a review after nine months. While the deployment date is yet to be announced, Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Mutua was quoted as saying by The Associated Press that the force could deploy within two to three months, or possibly early January.

What led to the delay?

Haiti’s troubled past with foreign military interventions is being viewed as the primary reason for the delay in the deployment of a multinational security mission to counter the gang violence in the country. The last time a force was sent to stabilise Haiti was in 2004. when former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a rebellion.

Thiswas followed by a U.N. peacekeeping mission — the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) which went on from 2004 to 2017. The mission was marred by allegations during its deployment in the country. A sewage runoff from a peacekeeper camp was blamed for causing a cholera epidemic which saw more than 10,000 deaths. There were also serious allegations of sexual abuse against the U.N. peacekeepers. Since then, Haitians have been sceptical about the intervention of a foreign armed force.

Besides the country’s troubled past with interventions under the aegis of the U.N., countries were also wary of lending support to Prime Minister Henry who doesn’t enjoy the popular support of Haitians.

(With inputs from agencies)