'Haitians very divided' over new mission given 'complicated history' of UN's previous interventions
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00:00 Let's get a little bit more context now.
00:02 In order to do so, we're turning live to Renata Segura,
00:04 Deputy Programme Director for Latin America and the Caribbean
00:08 at the Crisis Group.
00:09 Renata, thanks so much for joining us.
00:11 We've heard a lot of consternation
00:16 about this peacekeeping force and the make-up of it,
00:19 the composition.
00:21 Why do you think this move is being made so long
00:25 after politicians have asked for it?
00:28 And is it a good idea to be sending this particular group to Haiti?
00:34 Well, for a long time, as you may know,
00:37 the US, which was the main force behind the idea of sending troops,
00:41 was trying to convince Canada and other countries
00:45 that may have had a more prepared police force to come to Haiti,
00:50 but they were unable to do so.
00:52 So Kenya really was the first country that volunteered,
00:56 accepted to lead the mission.
00:59 And while it is certainly worrisome
01:03 that there are serious considerations
01:05 about the human rights violation
01:07 that the police has done inside Kenya,
01:11 we do think that with proper oversight,
01:14 with proper preparation and vetting,
01:17 the force will be able to at least stop the cycles of violence
01:22 that we have been seeing in Haiti
01:24 deteriorating for the last two years.
01:27 How exactly is this peacekeeping force going to be received,
01:33 do you think, on the ground?
01:35 People are already so weary with all the violence that's been going on.
01:40 Is there hope?
01:42 I think Haitians are very divided
01:45 about the possibility of this mission changing things.
01:50 And as you well know, there is a very complicated history
01:54 of UN and other interventions in the past,
01:57 which certainly gives reasons to those doubts.
02:01 However, recent polls indicate that around 70% of Haitians
02:06 do acknowledge that the Haitian National Police by itself
02:10 will not be able to stop the violence.
02:14 And there are definitely multiple sectors
02:17 that are very pleased by the vote that happened yesterday.
02:21 The main worry, however, is that key political actors,
02:25 such as the Montana Agreement,
02:27 which is a coalition of groups that have been in opposition
02:30 to the government and others,
02:32 are not yet happy to receive this mission
02:37 because they see it as a possible tool of the current administration
02:41 to prolong its stay in power.
02:43 So, at Crisis Group, we have been advocating for a political agreement
02:48 that takes place before the troops arrive
02:51 to guarantee the widest possibility for the mission to succeed.
02:56 And going back to that complicated history,
02:59 this is now actually, it's not exactly a United Nations force,
03:04 but rather funded by voluntary contributions.
03:08 Is that going to be an important aspect of this aid going forward?
03:13 Hugely important.
03:14 Naturally, this mission is only going to succeed
03:18 if it has enough people and the amount of resources that they need,
03:24 which is not minimal.
03:25 We're talking about thousands and thousands of gang members
03:29 that are embedded with the communities.
03:31 So, it's also going to need very specific intelligence
03:35 and help in the technical matters
03:38 that guarantee that we're not going to be seeing civilian casualties
03:41 or rampant abuses of human rights.
03:44 And there's necessarily going to be resources
03:47 that are going to be needed for all of this.
03:49 So, if the force moves ahead,
03:51 but there are not enough countries that put their hand in their pocket
03:56 to guarantee that they have the resources that they need,
03:58 it would fail.
04:00 And finally, just if you could summarize for viewers
04:04 who aren't really familiar with the situation in Haiti,
04:06 what has led to this massive deterioration
04:09 over the last couple of years?
04:11 Why are we seeing such a desperate situation right now?
04:15 So, essentially, after the assassination of President Moise,
04:18 which happened in July two years ago,
04:21 we have seen a state that has essentially collapsed.
04:25 And with this absence of a state,
04:28 with very weak police forces,
04:31 Haiti basically doesn't have an army.
04:34 Gangs that had existed before,
04:36 that had been traditionally in alliance with political and economic elites,
04:41 have gone into this rampage
04:43 to really conquer more territory and acquire more power.
04:49 Sanctions that have been implemented by both the US and Canada
04:54 have been able to cut the ties between some of those elites and the gangs,
05:00 but that has had the unintended consequences
05:02 that these groups have turned to the population to make up that money.
05:06 So we've seen quite an increase in both extortion and kidnapping
05:11 of families that don't really have the resources
05:14 to pay the fees that are being requested from them.
05:17 So what we're seeing right now,
05:19 as the mandate passed this week in the UN,
05:24 is that the gangs are trying to gather strength
05:26 to be in the best possible state when the forces arrive.
05:31 So we're likely going to see some time of ramping of violence,
05:36 hopefully when the forces do get to Port-au-Prince
05:40 and the rest of the country,
05:42 that will recede at least a little bit while the forces fight the gangs.
05:48 Of course, we always hope that the violence subsides and subsides for good.
05:52 Renata, thank you so much for joining us this evening.
05:55 That's Renata Segura,
05:56 the Deputy Programme Director for Latin America and the Caribbean
05:59 at the crisis group.