Haiti is engulfed in a new wave of violence, as armed gangs continue to tighten their grip on key urban areas. Kenyan police officers, deployed under the United Nations-backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, are struggling to contain the spiraling insecurity.
The security situation has deteriorated sharply in recent days following a deadly ambush by the gangs, during which a Kenyan police officer was reported missing, the mission’s first casualty. These recent developments have shed further light on the perils confronting the MSS mission.
MSS Spokesperson Jack Ombaka, in an interview with NTV Kenya on the 5th, confirmed that the officer, Benedict Kabiru, remains missing in action. While some reports have speculated that the officer may have been killed, Ombaka dismissed a viral video purporting to show Kabiru in gang custody as “fake and probably AI-generated.” Kenya’s Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, also reiterated that search efforts are ongoing.
Meanwhile, concerns have emerged over the adequacy of equipment used by MSS personnel, including their vehicles, amid the increasingly hostile terrain.
Asked whether the mission is achieving its objective of stabilizing Haiti in preparation for elections next year, Ombaka explained that the MSS follows a four-phase model: deployment, decisive operations, stabilization, and transition. “We are currently in the decisive operations phase,” he said. “This is where the rubber meets the road. What we are seeing now reflects that phase.”
Shortly after the confrontations, heavily armed gangs stormed the city of Mirebalais, northeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in a brazen attack that freed at least 500 inmates from the local prison.
According to The Haitian Times, the city remains under siege, with intense firefights between gangs and security forces plunging residents into terror and chaos. This latest incident reflects a broader pattern of growing gang control. Some estimates now suggest that as much as 80% of Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas are ruled by militias.
Mounting casualties and humanitarian crises
The cost to civilians has been catastrophic. By the end of 2024, United Nations data showed that violence caused the death of over 5,600 people and displaced more than one million across Haiti. Since January 2025, another 6,000 people have been forced from their homes in the capital alone, as brutal violence ranging from kidnappings to systematic sexual assaults continues.
Once again, Haiti is spiraling into a humanitarian disaster marked by food shortages, overwhelmed health services, and the mass displacement of vulnerable populations.
Public fury over the crisis
In response to the relentless violence and government inaction, thousands of Haitians have taken to the streets. Protesters carry placards condemning both the gang rule and the inability of the MSS and Haitian authorities to restore order.
The demonstrations have become a symbol of the Haitian people’s growing disillusionment – not just with their own leadership, but with foreign missions that promise support yet seem to deliver little change on the ground.
Kenya’s role: A mission in doubt
Kenya’s decision to lead the MSS mission was announced in mid-2023 and formalized through UN endorsement. From the outset, it faced criticism and legal challenges at home. Skeptics questioned the constitutional basis for deploying police officers abroad and raised concerns over the mission’s viability and the safety of Kenyan personnel.
Nevertheless, Kenyan police officers began arriving in Haiti in December 2024 to spearhead what was widely portrayed as a turning point. But nearly four months into the mission, optimism has faded. The MSS has been cited as lacking adequate resources and clear coordination, and its security-first approach has little local legitimacy in a context deeply scarred by foreign interference.
A legacy of failed interventions
Haiti’s problems are not new and neither is foreign involvement. For over two centuries, external actors have intervened in the country, often in the name of stability or humanitarianism. Yet the legacy of these efforts is one of exploitation and instability:
- France imposed a crushing indemnity after Haiti’s independence in 1804
- The US occupied Haiti from 1915–1934
- The US and allies supported the Duvalier dictatorships in the Cold War-era
- A deeply controversial UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti began in 2004
The history of international presence in Haiti is littered with harm.
The 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse deepened the collapse of state institutions, leaving a power vacuum that armed gangs have readily filled. The pattern is painfully familiar. Foreign missions intervene, leave behind chaos, and the Haitian people pay the price.
Call for a just, Haitian-led future
As the MSS mission falters and protests grow louder, it is clear once again that security interventions will not solve Haiti’s crisis. The country’s plight is deeply rooted in political, economic, and historical injustices – many of them shaped by centuries of foreign domination and manipulation.
What Haiti needs is not another externally imposed “solution,” but a bold commitment to Haitian sovereignty. That includes rebuilding democratic institutions, supporting local leadership, and reckoning with the injustices of past interventions. And enabling the Haitian people to reclaim control of their future.
