Foreign forces having limited impact on gang violence, says Haitian photojournalist
Published:Monday | October 7, 2024 | 12:08 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Pristina, Kosovo:
Ralph Tedy Erol, a Haitian photojournalist, was onsite when the Jamaican security forces arrived in Port-au-Prince last month to join the 400 Kenyan police who came in June to work with Haitian police and military to restore law and order in the crisis-plagued country.
His media colleague, news editor Widlore Mérancourt, recalls Haitians expressing their disbelief at the number of officers sent by the Jamaican Government.
Twenty Jamaican soldiers and four police officers, responsible for providing command, planning and logistics support, joined the United Nations (UN)-backed mission. Jamaica had pledged a group of 200 security personnel, but Prime Minister Andrew Holness said it was not possible for the country to deploy them all at once.
The French-speaking nation has been experiencing ballooning humanitarian and national-security crises, resulting in more than half a million people being displaced and hundreds killed by armed gangs that have taken over its capital city.
Although acknowledging that the multi-national security force has yet to have any meaningful impact on the operations of the more than 200 gangs that have been a scourge on the country, the photojournalist said he is remaining optimistic.
“We continue to hope,” he said as he tried to digest news that more than 70 of his countrymen were killed by gang last Thursday. An additional 3,000 people were forced to flee as armed men attacked Pont-Sonde, setting fire to homes and cars.
Erol received this news while in Pristina, Kosovo, participating in the European Union-hosted Connecting Media Communities 2024 seminar.
“There have been no major operations against the armed gangs. The population is still left to fend for itself,” he told The Gleaner. “So no, improvement, but we dare to remain hopeful.”
People had been doubtful that the Jamaican security forces would have any impact on the operations of the gangs from the beginning, Mérancourt stated.
This pessimism was as a result of the negligible effect of the much larger Kenyan force that he said is enervated by lack of equipment, the lack of personnel, and a tense relationship between them and the Haitian national police.
“When they (Kenyans) came to the country a few months ago, people were hopeful that the reign of terror of the gangs would come to an end. However, months after their arrival, the country [is] still plunged into chaos,” he said.
“You still have, today, the most important road bringing you to the capital controlled by the gangs, months after the arrival of the Kenyans,” he added.
Additionally, he said Haiti’s history with foreign forces in the country has made citizens even more skeptical.
He pointed to the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, from 2004 to 2017, which was reportedly responsible for hundreds of cases of human rights violations, and diseases.
“They bring cholera to the country; about 10,000 people were killed and 800,000 were affected by the disease and the disease is still in Haiti today,” he said.
However, even then, he said people extended grace to the officers as any help to fight against the gangs operating in the country would be welcome.
However, they have been left disappointed.
“More and more, you are receiving reports of gang violence in spaces where you did not have gang violence, where you have an explosion of gang activities that is accelerating,” he said.
“The partners of Haiti are desperate to show that the allied force is making an effort on the ground, but, as someone living in Haiti every day, I can tell you that many of the statements are far from the reality of Haiti,” he stated.