Haiti begs for help as gangs slaughter the innocent

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Haitian interim Prime Minister Garry Conille is on his way to Africa and the Middle East to beg for help with improving security back home in the wake of the weekend gang slaying of 70 people in the western agricultural region of Artibonite, police have reported.

Conille is targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kenya, which have been leading a fledgling international and multinational security mission on the ground in Haiti for the past year, trying to beat back heavily armed gangs that have been dominating life in the capital, killing police officers and civilians, controlling key areas, and disrupting economic life, while terrorizing citizens.

The visit to Nairobi comes just weeks after Kenyan President William Ruto visited the Caribbean Community (Caricom) nation while on his way to the United Nations General Assembly to inspect the initial batch of 400 police officers on the ground and prepare for two more batches, totataling 1,000, expected to arrive before year’s end.

“Our next batch—another 600—is undergoing redeployment training,” a smiling Ruto had said. “We will be ready for the mission in a few weeks and look forward to the necessary support to enable their deployment. There are many people who thought Haiti was an impossible mission, but today they have changed their minds because of the progress you have made.”

However, Conille thinks that the situation is so dire back home that he wants to push the Kenyans to bring the arrival date of the next two batches forward as soon as possible. “One of the aims of this trip is to go to Kenya to discuss with President Ruto how we can speed up the deployment…of the Kenyan troops as quickly as possible to continue supporting the national police force,” Conille told local and international media.

The UN recently voted to extend the presence of the force for another year, even as the Central American nation of Guatemala has said it is preparing to send 150 soldiers to join the Kenyans and those from Caribbean nations like the Bahamas and Jamaica on the island. Barbados, Suriname, and a few others have pledged to add to the numbers in the coming months.

On the UAE visit, Conille said he is looking for financial and other help to beat back the violent armed gangs that have been on the rampage ever since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise by mercenaries.

Even as Conille does his shuttle diplomacy, though, trouble is brewing among the nine-person interim administration that regional and western governments had helped to establish earlier this year. Three of its key members are embroiled in a major corruption scandal and could face criminal charges in the coming weeks. The local anti-corruption unit has called for charges against Louis Gérald Gilles, Emmanuel Vertilaire, and Smith Augusti. They are accused of demanding a $750,000 bribe from state commercial bank manager Raoul Pascal Pierre-Louis for him to keep his job at National Bank of Credit.

Pierre-Louis had complained about the issue to Conille, but was fired for doing so. It is unclear if and when the three will be asked to step down as interim cabinet ministers, since there is every indication that criminal charges will flow.

Additional details provided by the unit seem to show that the four had a special relationship; the manager had allegedly breached bank rules by approving credit cards with limits of up to $20,000. This is reportedly only done by directors. “These cards were issued under the direct instruction of Pierre-Louis, bypassing the board of directors. By accepting Pierre-Louis’ offer, the councilors abused their positions and engaged in bribery, violating Articles 5.5, 14, and 21 of the 2014 anti-corruption law,” the body said.

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