US steps up humanitarian and security support for Haiti, pledges $60 mn amid escalating crisis

The United States will provide $60 million in additional humanitarian assistance to Haiti, the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced on Monday (22 July) during a trip to the beleaguered Caribbean nation.

Progress amid setbacks

“We know that progress isn’t linear. There will be inevitable setbacks and stumbling blocks, and yet this mission has opened a door to progress,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

She also mentioned that the US Department of Defense would provide a “substantial increase” in mine-resistant vehicles to a UN-backed, multinational security mission. This mission is being led by Kenya to assist Haiti’s national police in combating widespread gang violence. It has been nearly a week since a second Kenyan contingent of 200 police officers arrived in Haiti. The first contingent, also comprising 200 officers, had arrived last month.

Thomas-Greenfield stated that the USAID assistance, now totalling more than $165 million this fiscal year, would address gaps in nutrition, food security and shelter; improve water and sanitation services; and provide Haitians with cash to purchase basic goods.

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Encouraging reform

Earlier on Monday, Thomas-Greenfield met with Kenyan police and leaders of Haiti’s new transitional government during a one-day visit aimed at encouraging action on Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and political reform leading to democratic elections that have yet to be scheduled.

“This isn’t a naïve sense of hope, but I do have a sense of hope. This has been a remarkable day on the ground,” she said.

There has been wide international support for the new transitional government led by Prime Minister Garry Conille, a former UN development specialist who assumed the post in early June. Earlier this month, he told the UN Security Council that the Kenyan police would be crucial to controlling the country’s gangs and moving towards democratic elections.

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Rising gang violence and humanitarian crisis

Gangs have grown in power since the 7 July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and are now estimated to control up to 80 per cent of the capital and surrounding areas. A surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.

According to UN agencies, the violence has displaced 580,000 people, more than half of whom are children, and resulted in 4 million people facing food insecurity.

Haiti had requested the immediate deployment of a foreign armed force to fight gangs in late 2022, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for months for a country to lead the force before the Kenyans came forward.

The multinational force will eventually total 2,500 personnel from Kenya, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica. They will be deployed in phases at a cost of some $600 million a year, according to the UN Security Council.

The US has provided over $300 million to the force, whose formation was supported by a UN resolution.

The Kenyan police will train the Haitian national police for joint security operations that have not yet begun, the official said.

With inputs from agencies