World Tour: Keeping tabs on the peacekeepers

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Last week, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations announced a $60 million aid package to feed and protect people in Haiti. That’s on top of U.S.-funded troops arriving from Kenya in recent weeks. Those troops are supposed to quell a worsening gang problem in the country and give the government time to form a democracy.

MARY REICHARD: But this isn’t the first time peacekeeping forces have been deployed in Haiti… and the last time it didn’t go so well.

So after more than a month on the ground, what are these peacekeeping forces doing and are they helping Haitians?

WORLD’s correspondent in Africa is on vacation this week, so WORLD Radio’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: Vorb Charles lives in a neighborhood bordering the international airport in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Gangs started invading his neighborhood in January.

VORB CHARLES: They got up on the houses and they started shooting inside the airport.

By March, gangs had shut down the airport and were constantly coming in and out of Charles’ neighborhood. His daughters would play in the yard, but they knew to come inside if they heard gunshots.

CHARLES: We do not know where the bullets are coming from… We find out, let's say some place at the house we think that it is, safer for them. And then we taught them to lay down to lay down on the ground.

But after a few weeks, it got too stressful and the girls went to a different city with their mom while Charles stayed and worked. Then, in April, the government started demolishing the houses bordering the airport so gang members couldn’t shoot from them. Charles says they demolished the church his family attends but have so far spared his house.

CHARLES: I know people that were living in this neighborhood for for more than 30 years, they left their houses and now they did not have any anywhere to to stay.

The government is compensating people for lost buildings. But Charles says it isn’t enough to rebuild their church… much less buy new land to build on.

The airport reopened in May… but gangs still control most of the capital.

CHARLES: We do need help. We have too many gang members, and we do not, we do not really have enough police officers to clear the situation. And we do need help.

The government agrees. Two years ago, the Haitian government asked for UN peacekeeping forces… and last year, Kenya agreed to lead a mission of 2,500 officers. The first rounds arrived last month and so far, about 600 officers have arrived.

Charles thought with their arrival, maybe things would start to change in Haiti… but he lost some faith in the mission after the officers were dancing when they got off the plane.

CHARLES: If you are serious, you are not dancing. If you're dancing, you're not serious.

He also hasn’t heard anything about what they plan to do or whether they’ve done anything… and he’s not alone.

BRIAN CONCANNON: There's been no concrete plans or actions, which is deeply disturbing.

Brian Concannon is the executive director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. He points out that the last time the United Nations sent peacekeeping forces to Haiti… they committed widespread sexual exploitation and started a cholera outbreak… though the UN hasn’t taken responsability for that.

CONCANNON: When the UN Security Council authorized the mission in October of 2023, the UN Security Council said there needs to be robust mechanisms for accountability. That was October. We're now in July. There has been not even any publicly proposed mechanism for accountability.

The UN is not running or taking responsibility for this peacekeeping mission.

The body previously asked the United States, Canada, Brazil, and a host of other South American countries to send forces to Haiti. All of them declined. Concannon says that’s because it could be seen as propping up a corrupt government.

CONCANNON: Kenya is taking on this mission because it needs the money.

So are these forces the right move to bring peace?

FRANCOIS PIERRE-LOU: It's a total waste of money for the international community to go into Kenya, and ask the Kenyans to settle the situation.

Francois Pierre-Louis is a professor of political science at the City University of New York, Queens College.

PIERRE-LOUIS: It is estimated that's going to be $600 million to spend on the forces in Haiti. So why can't the international community spend that money on building up the local police force, reinforcing them, instead of bringing foreigners to Haiti on the on the hope that they're going to solve the situation.

Pierre-Louis says helping Haiti would require restoring the rule of law and get corruption out of the government… and both will require holding people in the Haitian government accountable.

PIERRE-LOUIS: The international community should consult with the Haitians to how they can best help.

Pierre Louis says it would be unwise for the international community to pull out completely.

But no matter who does the work, Concannon says, something has to change for Haitians.

CONCANNON: When you're walking to school, when you're going to work, when you're sleeping in your house, you spend your whole life worrying that you or or your family members are going to be kidnapped or killed.

Vorb Charles’ wife and children eventually came back home. But not without some serious consequences. During the worst of it, his wife could hardly eat and eventually had a stroke.

CHARLES: Praise God, she does not have any, any damage. But they say that she should live— She should be living away from stress or stuff like that so that. But how can somebody live here in Haiti without stress?

The government says it may destroy another round of houses in Charles’ neighborhood… and Charles isn’t sure if his home will be part of it.

CHARLES: Every Haitian, we are tired… We are tired of not being able to leave home whenever we want. Not being able to go to the beach… We are tired of being in prison.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy filling in for Onize Ohikere.

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