Millions more pledged to help Haiti police but no breakthroughs on the security crisis

The State Department’s top diplomat for the Western Hemisphere said Friday that the security situation in Haiti has been precarious for quite some time, but he “would not say that it is getting worse.”

Brian A. Nichols, assistant secretary at the State Department, made the assessment in a press call where he increasingly discussed the need for elections in Haiti and defended the rapid expulsions of over 24,000 Haitian asylum-seekers since September who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

“It is our obligation to enforce the U.S. immigration law and return them to their country of origin,” he said.

Nichols’ comments came on the heels of yet another high-level meeting on Haiti Friday. Hosted by Albert Ramdin, the current foreign minister of Suriname and a former deputy secretary-general of the Organization of American States, the meeting brought together representatives of 17 foreign governments and several international donors.

Friday’s meeting — the fourth since last December — did not yield any new solutions to solving the country’s security crisis, though there was an announcement of new contributions.

The United States announced an additional $48 million in security assistance through the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. Canada also made an additional $5 million contribution, and the European Union gave $3.8 million. The money will go to a “basket fund” set up by the U.N. to assist the Haiti National Police. The U.N. is seeking $28 million. The U.S. said its security assistance will complement the newly created U.N. fund.

On the security situation, Nichols said, “I would say that it is a variable. ... We’ve seen eruptions of gang violence and then periods of calm.”

Nichols also said that he saw a report from the U.S. Embassy indicating 53 kidnappings last year of American citizens.

“Kidnappings are actually down slightly up to this point, but that’s cold comfort to the people of Haiti,” he said.

His assessment, however, runs counter to the reality on the ground for many Haitians and a recent United Nations report. The report, presented to the U.N. Security Council last month, said gangs are tightening their grip on large swaths of the country. It noted that kidnappings and homicides have risen 36% and 17%, respectively, compared with the last five months of 2021.

On Friday, the sound of automatic gunshots could be heard around 6:15 p.m. in the Cité Soleil slum. After deadly clashes in the capital earlier in the day, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti issued a tweet calling for “armed individuals to immediately stop their acts of violence, to allow free passage to the medical emergency services.” The U.N. also called on the interim government to ensure the protection of civilians.

Also in a meeting in Port-au-Prince, the mission’s head Helen La Lime noted that there were already 680 documented kidnappings since the beginning of the year, according to the Haitian police. The actual number, she noted, is higher because not all abductions are reported.

To make his point on the security situation today compared with previous months, Nichols cited a “gang attack” against Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry during Haitian independence day celebrations in January, which some have questioned, and last year’s fuel terminal blockade by a group of Haitian gangs that created life-threatening shortages as examples of flare-ups.

He also mentioned the May extradition of Germine Joly, a powerful gang leader who, along with his 400 Mawozo gang, is accused of murder, arms trafficking and the kidnapping of 16 Americans and a Canadian last October. “That sent a very strong signal to the gang, that there are consequences for their actions,” Nichols said.

Joly’s extradition and indictment in U.S. federal court has not weakened gang activity in Haiti. Armed gang members have seized control of the main courthouse, which still wasn’t back under police control Friday, and forced the U.S. Embassy to restrict the movement of staff in the Tabarre area because of increased violence and kidnappings. The embassy is located 1.5 miles away from 400 Mawozo’s stronghold in the Croix-des-Bouquets suburb and less than a mile from the base of one of its allies in the Torcel community.

Also, two days after the U.S. requested Joly’s extradition in late April from a Haitian prison where he ran the gang, 400 Mawozo waged a violent turf war against another gang, Chen Mechan, that, according to a local human rights group, led to one of the worst massacres in recent memory. At least 191 men, women and children were shot to death or chopped up with machetes during the nearly two-week insurrection that forced the Haiti National Police to mount a military-style operation to take back a key artery.

The increase in gang activities in the area has forced the displacement of thousands of Haitians in the last two months and the shuttering of essential services like the courthouse in Croix-des-Bouquet. It has also affected the visa processing at the U.S. Embassy, whose consular sections had already been slowed down by the violence and the COVID-19 pandemic and has lost local staff because of the increased insecurity.

Nichols did acknowledge that there’s a consensus in the international community that the situation in Haiti is critical.

“The situation in Haiti did not get to this point overnight,” he said. “And it’s going to take time to improve the situation. We have to give the Haitian people the resources that they need to bring their country forward to elections and an adequate humane security situation. And that’s what we are focused on.”

Nichols said the United States’ new funding will support specialized training for the Haiti National Police’s SWAT units, help improve security in Haiti’s courts and fund violence prevention in communities. He noted that the U.S. currently has a police adviser and trainers in Port-au-Prince to soon begin training a new SWAT unit in anti-gang operations.

“The Haitian national police are able to carry out operations against gangs, dislodge them and to ensure security in areas around the country. However, they still don’t have the capability to hold those areas for an extended period of time,” Nichols said. “In order to do that, they’ll need greater staffing, manpower.”

Once numbering 15,459 officers, the Haiti National Police force is down to 12,800 as of May 31, according to the U.N.

While the U.S. prohibits “the direct transfer” of weapons to the Haitian police using U.S. funds, Nichols said the U.S. government has provided radios, vehicles, helmets and protective vests. Both the Haiti National Police and the interim government have said they face difficulties acquiring weapons and ammunition to combat gangs armed with illegally trafficked U.S.-made assault-style rifles.

“If other donors wish to dedicate part of their funding to ammunition or weapons, they could certainly do that. We believe that ensuring that the Haitian national police are properly equipped, including with the appropriate weaponry, is essential to their being able to provide security to the Haitian people,” Nichols said.

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On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on the future of its special political mission in Haiti. Haiti has said no to foreign troops. The U.S. agrees with that position, though some of its traditional partners in the international community disagree. Last month, the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, asked the council to send in troops.

The increased raising of elections by the U.S. shows that Washington may be losing patience with Haiti’s political paralysis and deepening uncertainty, a year after the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse.

Last month, La Lime told the U.N. Security Council that “it is highly unlikely that elections” will take place this year. She pointed to the lack of results from multiple initiatives and proposals to get Haitians to arrive at a consensus, which has yielded political deadlock.

Nichols would not put a timeline on when the U.S. expects Haitians to go to the polls but noted that in Haiti, technical preparations needed to hold an election historically take about six months after the installation of a nine-member elections body. Henry has not yet named one, and has been unable to get consensus among members of civil society, particularly the Montana Group, to do so.

“This is something that is vital for Haiti,” Nichols said about elections.

Nichols reiterated the U.S. call for political dialogue among Haiti’s political and civil society actors, and said the role of Henry’s interim government is to “prepare as quickly as possible, the conditions for elections and to improve security.”

“Its role is not to perpetuate itself in power,” he said, “but to allow the Haitian people to express themselves at the polls.”