ASSOCIATED PRESS
A National Police officer patrols a crossing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti >> Radio stations across Haiti were inundated with calls just hours after a Kenyan court blocked the deployment of a U. N. -backed police force to fight gangs in the troubled Caribbean country.
Many callers have wondered: what’s next?
Not many people know this.
Uncertainty and concern have grown since Friday’s ruling, with violence reaching new records as gangs tighten their grip on the Haitian capital and beyond.
“In the absence of an external project that is deployed very soon, we are facing a quite tragic situation in Haiti,” warned Diego Da Rin, of the International Crisis Group.
The gangs, which make up about 80% of the Haitian capital, have attacked and struck in recent weeks in nonviolent communities, killing and wounding dozens of people, raising widespread concerns about their imminent invasion across Port-au-Prince.
The number of people killed last year in Haiti more than doubled to about 4,500, and the number of reported kidnappings rose more than 80 percent to about 2,500 cases, according to the latest U. N. statistics.
Meanwhile, Haiti’s National Police is wasting its officers “at an alarming rate,” while those still on duty continue to be beaten by gangs, according to a U. N. report released this week. More than 1,600 police officers left the police force last year and 48 are believed to have been killed.
In addition, materials sent through the foreign network to bolster an underfunded police service have collapsed due to fierce fighting with gangs. Only 21 of the 47 armored vehicles were operational by mid-November, adding 19 “severely damaged in anti-gang operations or damaged,” according to the U. N. report. The remaining seven cars “are permanently disabled,” he said.
“The scenario is excessive. Enough is enough,” said a man who goes by pastor Malory Laurent when he called Radio Caraïbes to comment on Friday’s decision. “Every day it seems like there’s no hope. “
The Kenyan government has announced that it will appeal the decision. It remains to be determined how long this might take and whether other countries that have pledged to send smaller forces to bolster the multinational project would do so alone.
Among those planning to send forces were the Bahamas, Jamaica, Belize, Burundi, Chad and Senegal.
“All I will say at this time is that this is a major setback for the people of Haiti who yearn to have a stable country to live in,” said Roosevelt Skerrit, Dominica prime minister and former head of a Caribbean trade bloc known as Caricom that has sent recent delegations to Haiti to help resolve the unrest. “The decision of the Kenyan court warrants an emergency meeting of the friends of Haiti to determine with the Haitian people the plan B.”
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis did not respond to messages of comment, nor did Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
Hugh Todd, Guyana’s foreign minister, told The Associated Press that the industrial bloc will most likely meet soon to discuss the implications of the resolution while awaiting news from Jamaica.
“We will have to see if there is legal space to operate,” he said, referring to whether there are other legal features that could allow Kenya and other countries to move forward.
U. N. officials have commented since the court’s ruling.
Edwin Paraison, a former Haitian diplomat and executive director of a foundation that seeks to strengthen ties between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, said he would be surprised if international leaders didn’t have a plan B.
He said the ruling, however, would allow Haiti to implement its own solutions to gang violence, and that he believes it has enough resources to do so.
“One entity that has never been mentioned, and we don’t understand why it has never been mentioned, is the Haitian army, although it is at an embryonic stage,” he said.
Paraison noted that more than 600 infantrymen recently trained in Mexico can simply work alongside police.
“We have to look at the resources we have at the local level to deal with this situation,” he said.
But those resources may not be enough, said André Joseph, 50, who owns a small shop in downtown Port-au-Prince, one of the capital’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
The other people who live and paint around his shop are very protective of him and his business, he said.
“I hope I can fight for them as well,” Joseph said. The foreign force would be the most productive thing those people have here, and for me too. “
But in the absence of such a plan, he would like to see the money earmarked for the multinational project go to Haiti so that it can rebuild its own forces and fight the gangs.
Many Haitians grumbled about Friday’s ruling, including Marjorie Lamour, a 39-year-old mother of two who sells women’s lingerie out of a small container she carries with her. She is forced to keep her load light in case she must run from gangs.
“Some days I’m here all day, then a shooting happens and I run, and I walk by the house penniless,” said Lamour, who called the resolution a “serious crime” against Haitians.
She noted that she and her family circle have already been forced to flee two other homes due to gang violence, which has left more than 310,000 Haitians homeless.
“I don’t need to have to run a third time,” she said, adding that she doesn’t make enough money to take good care of her children. “Feeding my children once a day is hard enough. I hope God can do anything for us because no one is doing anything.
Da Rin of the International Crisis Group said the positive aspect is that the UN Security Council-backed project did not specify that Kenya would lead it. He said this opens the option for the country to take the reins without further approval from the meetings or the council.
As Haiti waits for the option of a Plan B, Da Rin said he fears the scenario will only get worse, especially given the recent arrival of former Haitian leader Guy Philippe, who has not supported the Kenyan-led mission.
“With this news, the desperation of Haitians to find a way out of the security crisis is growing,” he said. “They make some pretty drastic decisions. “
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