Haiti’s government has authorized Prime Minister Ariel Henry to ask the international community for a “specialized armed force” to deal with a crisis caused by the blockade of the country’s main fuel port that has led to a severe shortage, according to a decree that circulates on Friday.
Haiti has been at a standstill since a coalition of gangs blockaded the Varreux fuel terminal last month. The lack of gas and diesel has paralyzed transport and forced companies and hospitals to stop operations.
It has also led to a shortage of bottled water, just as the country confirmed a new outbreak of cholera, the spread of which is controlled by hygiene and clean water.
The decree allows Henry to “request and obtain from Haiti’s international partners effective support through the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force to stop … the insecurity resulting from the joint actions of armed gangs and their sponsors” .
It was not immediately clear which countries would receive that request.
It was also unclear whether the request would lead to the activation of United Nations peacekeeping troops, whose mission ended five years ago after 11 troubled years in Haiti.
The international body sent thousands of soldiers and police to restore order after a rebellion toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.
In 2017, the UN withdrew military personnel and said it would focus more on the Haitian justice system and police.
But Haiti’s national police have struggled to control gangs with limited resources and chronic understaffing, with only about 12,800 active officers for a country of more than 11 million people.
The gangs have only become more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Critics question the extent to which the United Nations achieved its goals of helping Haiti improve political stability and strengthen its rule of law institutions.
Many Haitians have strongly rejected the idea of another international intervention, noting that UN peacekeepers were accused of sexual assault and sparked a cholera epidemic more than a decade ago that killed thousands .
“I don’t think Haiti needs another intervention,” said Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s former elections minister. “We’ve been through so much and nothing has been resolved… If we don’t do it as Haitians, 10 years from now, we’ll be in the same situation again.”
He called on the U.S. government to help reduce the amount of ammunition and weapons flowing into Haiti and to further equip police officers with more weapons and the ability to use intelligence on gangs.
He was also worried about the situation that an international security force would find himself in.
“It’s not an army they’re up against,” he said. “They confront gangs located in poor areas and use the population as shields to protect themselves.”
The United Nations has not received an official request from the Haitian government, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday.
“That said, we remain very concerned about the security situation in Haiti, the impact it’s having on the Haitian people, on our ability to do our work, especially in the humanitarian arena,” Dujarric told reporters.