Description: The Commander of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti, Godfrey Otunge, stated that the security and humanitarian crisis in the country caused by gang violence could further aggravate due to shortages in funding. Kenya launched a voluntary mission to assist Haitian government forces in confronting armed gangs in the country which have caused a massive refuge crisis, food shortages and widespread chaos, holding the country hostage and paralyzing its socio – economic system. Kenya filed an initiative during the latest UN Security Council meeting which would effectively make the MSS a UN sponsored mission and tackle the ongoing issues regarding deployment of troops, logistics and intelligence. The initiative was blocked by Russia and China which cited funding issues within the UN. Gang violence erupted in 2020 and forcefully displaced more than 1.3 million people.
Impact: Entering the fifth year of the Haitian gang crisis, the situation continues to threaten regional stability and conflict escalation in the midst of recent shortages in funding. The MSS voluntary mission has shown evident signs of reduced capacities in recent months and failed to subvert the rapidly expanding territorial gains of the gang coalition. The conflict also accentuates the current ineffectiveness of international organizations such as the UN, which have always represented a battleground for geopolitical dominance by global actors such as China, Russia and the US. The current state of affairs indicates prolongation of the conflict between government forces and the gangs, causing additional exacerbation of the security and humanitarian crisis in the country.