What next for Kenya as new Gang Suppression Force takes charge in Haiti?

US Ambassador Michael Waltz said the new GSF mission offers new hope for the country's future as “a key first step” to address the humanitarian and security crisis in Haiti.

Alongside the US and Panama, a dozen other countries within the Caribbean region and other member states also backed the resolution as China, Pakistan, and Russia abstained. 

The GFS will run under an initial 12-month mandate, while working in close collaboration with the Haitian National Police (HNP) and the Haitian Armed Forces (HAF) to conduct operations to neutralize gangs, provide security for critical infrastructure, and support humanitarian access. 

It is expected that the GFS will consist of a 5,550-strong force, which will protect vulnerable groups, support the reintegration of former fighters into communities and help strengthen Haitian institutions.

Kenya, which led the MSS mission approved in 2023, has welcomed the transition to GFS. 

Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei on Wednesday endorsed the mission for it has a robust mandate including conducting intelligence-led counter-gang operations to neutralize, isolate, and deter gangs.

Questions now remain on whether Kenya will transition to the new GFS. Will Kenyan troops make part of the 5550 members of GFS, or will the country be required to add more. 

According to Sing'ei, "this is a policy decision to be made in due course and will be communicated."

A UN Support Office and government autonomy

The new resolution tasks the UN Secretary-General to establish a UN Support Office in Haiti (UNSOH) to provide logistical and operational support to the GSF, HNP and the Haitian Armed Forces, including rations, medical care, transportation, strategic communications and troop rotation. 

UNSOH will also support the Organization of American States’ SECURE-Haiti project and ensure compliance with international human rights standards. 

The United States, also a sponsor of the resolution, highlighted the scale of the new mission when Ambassador Mike Waltz, “.... with this vote to transform the MSS mission to the new Gang Suppression Force, a mission five times the size of its predecessor and with a strengthened mandate to go after the gangs.” 

“The international community is sharing the burden and living up to its promise to help Haiti turn the tide. It offers Haiti the chance to assume responsibility for its own security.” 

The UN Security Council stressed that Haiti’s government retains “primary responsibility” for national security and governance reform, including tackling corruption, illegal arms flows and the recruitment of children by gangs. The GSF is intended to support Haitian authorities while creating conditions for the country to gradually assume full security responsibility.

The defunct Kenya-led mission

The Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, has been limping and was plagued by some myriad shortcomings even though it achieved minimal latitude as many countries claimed it lacked the critical backing of being a “UN mission”. 

It was, however, authorized by the Security Council in October 2023. The Kenya-led MSS faced chronic underfunding, insufficient personnel, and limited operational capacity, making it difficult to contain gangs that now control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince. 

A disappointed President Ruto, while at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) conference held in New York on September 22 explained how Kenyan officers, were devoid of international assistance during the mission forcing them to operate incapacitated while battling the Haitian gangs. 

The President expressed his frustration with the hard politics surrounding the Haiti issue and intimated that only the United States had given the Kenyan-led operation second-hand vehicles, in poor condition, as most of them broke down, putting the security officers in danger especially in hostile gang-infested areas. 

President Ruto noted that when Kenya volunteered for the mission, it was on the understanding that the international community would provide financial support and critical equipment. However, he regretted this assistance from the international community never came through. 

It must be credited to the MSS that the Haiti National Police regained access to some areas and infrastructure, but it encountered a real struggle rise to the occasion due to being under-resourced and under-equipped in light of the scale of the crisis. Haiti, due to anarchy orchestrated by gang-violence, is facing nearly 1.3 million internally displaced people, rising kidnappings, widespread sexual violence, and gangs that control large areas of the capital.

Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba of Panama, in introducing the resolution to the Security Council began by emphasizing the urgency of international support. 

He said, “Since last year, this Council has requested the Secretary-General to put forward recommendations to address the multidimensional crisis in Haiti ... Haiti is facing an unprecedented, multi-dimensional crisis that requires our decisive attention.” He urged all Security Council members to support the initiative, stating that doing so would “send a clear message to Haiti – you are not on your own.”

MSS was bound to wind up

The decision to transform the MSS mission to the GSF was a matter of “when” and not “if.” This resolution could therefore present a fresh fulcrum in Haiti’s turbulent history. 

The Multinational Security Support mission (MSS) has been “a valuable support and a strong signal of international solidarity”, Ambassador Pierre Ericq Pierre stressed: “But the reality on the ground reminded us that the scale and sophistication of the threat far exceeds the mandate initially granted to the MSS mission.” 

The GFS has been granted by the Security Council a stronger, more offensive and wider operational mandate, “it is giving the international community the means to respond to the gravity of the situation in Haiti,” said Amb. Pierre Ericq Pierre.

Meanwhile Kenya, which has led the MSS to its conclusion, also backed the new mechanism, the GFS, that was co-authored by the US and Panama to succeed the MSS mission. Kenya led the MSS mission with 735 out of a total 989 officers, supported by tiny contingents from Guatemala, El Salvador, Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Canada. 

It therefore leaves Kenya with the latitude to join the new outfit with a broader mandate and see if more and better could be achieved for Haiti or if it so desires, to withdraw its officers on the ground back home. 

Several legal and strategic executive decisions will be on the table and being that Kenya has a history on deploying forces under the UN mandate in several peace-keeping missions abroad, the new GFS should not present much trouble. 

The biggest issue, however, remains Kenya painful lesson by the rushed and short-sighted deployment which could barely wait the logistical and legal hurdles it encountered on the way deploy in Haiti. 

At the instigation of the US under then US President Biden, President Ruto rushed full throttle to deploy Kenya’s security forces even as many other security-capable countries cautiously broached the issue. Three officers lost their lives in the misadventure and a number of them suffered injuries. 

Of the three reported dead, one officer’s body has not been found to date. This was an outing Kenya might have let pass with no consequences.