ReportWire

Tag: Armed Groups

  • What to know about the militants targeted by US airstrikes in northwest Nigeria

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    The United States airstrikes that targeted Islamic State group militants in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday marked a major escalation in an offensive that the West African’s overstretched military has struggled with for years.U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that the “powerful and deadly” strikes in the state of Sokoto were carried out against IS gunmen who were “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.” Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.Nigeria, which is battling multiple armed groups, said the U.S. strikes were part of an exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination between the two countries.The Associated Press could not confirm the extent of the strikes’ impact. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a post on X about the airstrikes, said: “More to come…”The militants targeted by US airstrikesThe armed groups in Africa’s most populous country include at least two affiliated with IS, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), known locally as Lakurawa, and prominent in the northwest.Although officials did not say exactly which group was targeted, security analysts said the target, if indeed against IS militants, was likely members of Lakurawa, which became more lethal in border states like Sokoto and Kebbi in the last year, often targeting remote communities and security forces.The Nigerian military has said in the past that the group has roots in neighboring Niger and that it became more active in Nigeria’s border communities following a 2023 military coup. That coup resulted in fractured relations between Nigeria and Niger, and affected their multinational military operations along the porous border. Militants torment villagersMultiple analysts have said Lakurawa has been active in northwest Nigeria since around 2017, when it was invited by traditional authorities in Sokoto to protect their communities from bandit groups.The militants, however, “overstayed their welcome, clashing with some of the community leaders … and enforcing a harsh interpretation of Sharia law that alienated much of the rural population,” according to James Barnett, an Africa researcher with the Washington-based Hudson Institute.”Communities now openly say that Lakurawa are more oppressive and dangerous than the bandits they claim to protect them from,” according to Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa.Lakurawa controls territories in Sokoto and Kebbi states, and has become known for killings, kidnapping, rape and armed robbery, Samuel said.But some of the attacks blamed on Lakurawa are by the Islamic State Sahel Province, which has expanded from Niger’s Dosso region to northwestern Nigeria, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.”ISSP has maintained a low profile, operating covertly to infiltrate and entrench itself along the Niger-Nigeria border, and is now also expanding its operations toward the Beninese border,” the project said in a recent report.Security threats are deep-rooted in social issuesThe security woes are more of a governance problem than a military one.Motives for attacks differ, but the gangs are often driven by the near absence of a state and security presence in conflict hot spots, making recruitment easy. Those hot spots, data show, have some of the country’s highest levels of poverty, hunger and lack of jobs.Nigeria’s Minister of Defense Christopher Musa once said that military action is only 30% of what is needed to fix the country’s security crisis, while the remaining 70% depends on good governance.”The absence of the state in remote communities is making it easy for non-state actors to come in and present themselves to the people as the best alternative government,” said Samuel.US strikes seen as crucial support for Nigeria’s militaryThursday’s U.S. strikes are widely seen by experts as crucial help for Nigeria’s security forces, which are often overstretched and outgunned as they fight multiple security crises across different regions.In states like Sokoto, the military often carries out airstrikes targeting militant hideouts and Nigeria has embarked on mass recruitment of security forces. But analysts say military operations targeting the gangs are not usually sustained and the militants easily move on motorcycles to new locations through vast forests that connect several states in the north.They also often use hostages — including schoolchildren — as cover, making airstrikes difficult.

    The United States airstrikes that targeted Islamic State group militants in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday marked a major escalation in an offensive that the West African’s overstretched military has struggled with for years.

    U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that the “powerful and deadly” strikes in the state of Sokoto were carried out against IS gunmen who were “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.” Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.

    Nigeria, which is battling multiple armed groups, said the U.S. strikes were part of an exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination between the two countries.

    The Associated Press could not confirm the extent of the strikes’ impact. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a post on X about the airstrikes, said: “More to come…”

    The militants targeted by US airstrikes

    The armed groups in Africa’s most populous country include at least two affiliated with IS, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), known locally as Lakurawa, and prominent in the northwest.

    Although officials did not say exactly which group was targeted, security analysts said the target, if indeed against IS militants, was likely members of Lakurawa, which became more lethal in border states like Sokoto and Kebbi in the last year, often targeting remote communities and security forces.

    The Nigerian military has said in the past that the group has roots in neighboring Niger and that it became more active in Nigeria’s border communities following a 2023 military coup. That coup resulted in fractured relations between Nigeria and Niger, and affected their multinational military operations along the porous border.

    Militants torment villagers

    Multiple analysts have said Lakurawa has been active in northwest Nigeria since around 2017, when it was invited by traditional authorities in Sokoto to protect their communities from bandit groups.

    The militants, however, “overstayed their welcome, clashing with some of the community leaders … and enforcing a harsh interpretation of Sharia law that alienated much of the rural population,” according to James Barnett, an Africa researcher with the Washington-based Hudson Institute.

    “Communities now openly say that Lakurawa are more oppressive and dangerous than the bandits they claim to protect them from,” according to Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa.

    Lakurawa controls territories in Sokoto and Kebbi states, and has become known for killings, kidnapping, rape and armed robbery, Samuel said.

    But some of the attacks blamed on Lakurawa are by the Islamic State Sahel Province, which has expanded from Niger’s Dosso region to northwestern Nigeria, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

    “ISSP has maintained a low profile, operating covertly to infiltrate and entrench itself along the Niger-Nigeria border, and is now also expanding its operations toward the Beninese border,” the project said in a recent report.

    Security threats are deep-rooted in social issues

    The security woes are more of a governance problem than a military one.

    Motives for attacks differ, but the gangs are often driven by the near absence of a state and security presence in conflict hot spots, making recruitment easy. Those hot spots, data show, have some of the country’s highest levels of poverty, hunger and lack of jobs.

    Nigeria’s Minister of Defense Christopher Musa once said that military action is only 30% of what is needed to fix the country’s security crisis, while the remaining 70% depends on good governance.

    “The absence of the state in remote communities is making it easy for non-state actors to come in and present themselves to the people as the best alternative government,” said Samuel.

    US strikes seen as crucial support for Nigeria’s military

    Thursday’s U.S. strikes are widely seen by experts as crucial help for Nigeria’s security forces, which are often overstretched and outgunned as they fight multiple security crises across different regions.

    In states like Sokoto, the military often carries out airstrikes targeting militant hideouts and Nigeria has embarked on mass recruitment of security forces. But analysts say military operations targeting the gangs are not usually sustained and the militants easily move on motorcycles to new locations through vast forests that connect several states in the north.

    They also often use hostages — including schoolchildren — as cover, making airstrikes difficult.

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  • At least 3,661 killed in ‘senseless’ Haiti gang violence this year: UN

    At least 3,661 killed in ‘senseless’ Haiti gang violence this year: UN

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    UN rights chief calls for crackdown on arms trafficking that fuels ‘criminality’ and widens humanitarian crisis.

    At least 3,661 people have been killed in Haiti in the first half of this year amid the “senseless” gang violence that has engulfed the country, according to the United Nations.

    The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday that the death toll between January and June – which included 100 children – showed that last year’s “high levels of violence” had been maintained.

    “No more lives should be lost to this senseless criminality,” said UN rights chief Volker Turk in a statement.

    Haiti was already reeling from years of unrest as powerful armed groups – often with ties to the country’s political and business leaders – vied for influence and control of territory.

    The situation worsened dramatically at the end of February, when the gangs launched attacks on prisons and other state institutions across the capital, Port-au-Prince.

    The UN report documented “extremely serious patterns of human rights violations and abuses taking place” in Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite Department north of the capital.

    It also tracked growing violence in the southern part of the West Department, where the capital is located, an area of the country that had so far been largely unaffected.

    According to the report, “gangs have continued to use sexual violence to punish, spread fear and subjugate populations”.

    Violence in the country is fuelled by arms trafficking, primarily from the United States, but also from the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

    OHCHR said poorly monitored airspaces, coastlines and porous borders were allowing gangs to obtain high-calibre weapons, drones, boats and “a seemingly endless supply of bullets”.

    Turk urged the international community to implement a global arms embargo, a travel ban, and an asset freeze programme imposed by the UN Security Council.

    Peacekeeping

    The surge in violence this year prompted the resignation of Haiti’s unelected prime minister, the creation of the transitional presidential council, and the deployment of a UN-backed, Kenya-led multinational force called the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS).

    About 10 countries have pledged more than 3,100 troops to the MSS, but only 430 of these have deployed so far, said OHCHR.

    Kenyan police arrive in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as part of a UN-backed peacekeeping mission amid rising gang violence in July [File: Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

    The report was published days before the MSS’s one-year mandate to support Haiti expires, with the UN Security Council scheduled to vote on September 30 on whether to renew it.

    Haiti has asked the UN to consider turning it into a formal peacekeeping mission to secure stable funds and capacity.

    Turk said it was clear the mission needed “adequate and sufficient equipment and personnel to counter the criminal gangs effectively and sustainably, and stop them spreading further and wreaking havoc on people’s lives”.

    On Wednesday, Haiti’s interim prime minister, Garry Conille, called for international support on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

    “We are nowhere near winning this, and the simple reality is that we won’t without your help,” he said.

    The number of people internally displaced by the violence has almost doubled in the last six months to more than 700,000, while some 1.6 million people are estimated to be facing emergency food insecurity.

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  • Philippine government, communist rebels to revive peace talks

    Philippine government, communist rebels to revive peace talks

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    If negotiations succeed, the rebels will end their 50-year armed struggle and transform into a political movement.

    The Philippine government will resume peace talks with the country’s communist rebels, in a bid to end decades of civil strife.

    Authorities will re-engage with the New People’s Army (NPA), the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), for the first time in six years, both parties and facilitator Norway announced on Tuesday.

    “The parties agree to a principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict,” the two sides said in a joint statement, adding that the peace talks will address “deep-rooted socioeconomic and political grievances”.

    If negotiations succeed, the rebels will end their armed struggle and transform into a political movement, according to Norway, which has mediated the island nation’s peace process for around 20 years.

    Despite the progress, the government announced no immediate ceasefire and said operations against the armed group would continue.

    However, military chief Romeo Brawner was hopeful an eventual peace deal would enable the armed forces to fully focus on “external or territorial defence”, rather than domestic conflict.

    Fifty years of conflict

    The Philippine government’s conflict with the NPA has raged for over 50 years, peaking in the 1980s, and killed more than 40,000 people.

    Today, the NPA has only a few thousand fighters, compared to some 26,000 at its height, with many rebels surrendering in exchange for financial assistance and livelihood opportunities, according to the government.

    However, NPA rebels continue to engage in deadly clashes in some parts of the Philippines, staging ambushes against those perceived as state collaborators.

    Members of the New People’s Army in their jungle hideout in Lianga, southern Mindanao island, Philippines, on March 13, 2023 [Reuters]

    Successive Philippine administrations have held talks with the communists aimed at ending the violence since 1986, negotiating with their Netherlands-based political arm, the NDF.

    Formal talks were last held in 2017 when they were acrimoniously terminated by then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

    Duterte left office in mid-2022 and was replaced by Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

    The announcement of renewed peace talks comes less than a week after Marcos Jr issued an order granting amnesty to several rebel groups, including former members of the communist movement.

    Under the amnesty order, former CPP, NPA and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) members would be absolved of crimes they committed “in pursuit of political beliefs”.

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  • A dozen soldiers killed after rebel attack in southwest Niger

    A dozen soldiers killed after rebel attack in southwest Niger

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    The deaths come as former colonial power France prepares to withdraw a counterinsurgency force stationed in the country.

    Seven soldiers have been killed in Niger’s southwest in an attack by suspected rebels, and five others died in a traffic accident while trying to respond to the assault.

    The deaths on Thursday come as former colonial power France prepares to withdraw a counterinsurgency force stationed in the country at the request of its new military leaders, who seized power in a coup two months ago.

    Niger’s defence minister, Salifou Mody, said in a statement that a military unit had been “violently attacked by several hundred terrorists” in the town of Kandadji on Thursday, adding that seven soldiers were killed in the fighting.

    “During an intervention” launched in response to the attack, “a tragic traffic accident led to the loss of five of our brave soldiers”, he continued.

    Another seven people were injured and evacuated to a hospital, he said.

    “A search and sweep operation is now underway in order to track down the enemy,” the minister said.

    The Tillaberi region, where the attack took place, is located in the so-called “three borders” zone where Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali meet. The area is a hideout for rebels, particularly those affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

    The country’s southwest, where it shares a border with Nigeria, is similarly plagued by attacks by Boko Haram and its dissident branch, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

    The leaders of the coup that toppled Niger’s elected government in late July had cited the deterioration of the security situation in the country as justification.

    According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a conflict aggregator, the number of deaths from rebel attacks in Niger has risen since the generals seized power.

    “The first month of junta rule in Niger was marked by a 42 percent increase in political violence compared to the month prior,” the ACLED report read.

    In mid-August, at least 17 soldiers were killed and 20 wounded in a suspected rebel attack near the border with Burkina Faso.

    It was the deadliest known attack in the country since the coup.

    France is currently preparing to withdraw – as demanded by the post-coup government – a contingent of 1,500 troops stationed in Niger as part of a counterinsurgency deployment in the Sahel region.

    French President Emmanuel Macron has said the pullout would be completed by the end of the year, while alleging that the country’s post-coup authorities “no longer wanted to fight against terrorism”.

    The coup against democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum was the third in the region in as many years, following similar actions in Mali and Burkina Faso, both of which were also once French colonies.

    The earlier coups also forced the pullouts of French troops, and all three countries have been targeted by rebel attacks for several years.

    The United States, which has about 1,100 military personnel in Niger, has said it will “evaluate” its future steps following France’s announcement that its troops would withdraw.

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  • UN’s new Haiti envoy warns of ‘alarming’ surge in violence

    UN’s new Haiti envoy warns of ‘alarming’ surge in violence

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    More than 1,600 homicides, rapes, kidnappings and lynchings reported in first quarter of 2023, BINUH chief says.

    Haitians are living through an “alarming” surge in violence, the head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) has said, with the number of criminal incidents more than doubling since last year.

    Speaking to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, BINUH chief Maria Isabel Salvador said 1,674 homicides, rapes, kidnappings and lynchings were reported in the first quarter of 2023.

    That is up from 692 such incidents in the same period a year earlier, said Salvador, citing data collected by BINUH and the Haitian National Police (HNP).

    “Gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate in areas previously considered relatively safe in Port-au-Prince and outside the capital,” she said.

    “The horrific violence in gang-ridden areas, including sexual violence, particularly against women and girls, is emblematic of the terror afflicting much of Haiti’s population.”

    Trucks block a street as people protest against gangs in Port-au-Prince, April 25, 2023 [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Salvador to lead BINUH and act as his special representative to Haiti in early March, as the Caribbean nation remains embroiled in a political crisis and faces worsening violence.

    Gang violence has been on the rise, particularly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, which created a power vacuum. And the country’s virtually non-existent government system has made stemming attacks even more difficult.

    Haiti’s de facto leader, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whom Moise chose for the post just days before he was killed, has faced a crisis of legitimacy – and attempts to chart a political transition for Haiti have failed, as well.

    The violence has impeded access to healthcare facilities, forced the closure of schools and clinics, and worsened already dire food insecurity by cutting residents of gang-controlled areas off from critical supplies.

    On Sunday, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson, said fighting between rival gangs in the Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Cite Soleil had left nearly 70 people dead between April 14 and 19.

    “The population feels under siege. They can no longer leave their homes for fear of gun violence and gang terror,” Richardson said.

    Also this week, residents of Port-au-Prince lynched suspected gang members and set their bodies on fire in another part of the capital. Images shared online and by news agencies showed a crowd of people standing near a pile of burned human remains in a street.

    In a brief statement shared on Facebook on Monday, the Haitian National Police said officers had confiscated weapons from “armed individuals” travelling in a minibus in Canape Vert.

    “In addition, more than a dozen individuals travelling in this vehicle were unfortunately lynched by members of the population,” the police force said.

    On Wednesday, Salvador said the HNP was “severely understaffed and ill-equipped” to address the violence, and “deaths, dismissals and increased resignations” among officers have made these deficiencies worse.

    “The need for urgent international support to the police to address the rapidly deteriorating security situation cannot be over-emphasised,” she said.

    Last October, Henry called on the international community to help set up a “specialised armed force” to quell the violence in Haiti, a demand that has the backing of the UN and the United States.

    “Solutions to the crisis must be owned and led by the people of Haiti, but the scale of the problems is such that they require the international community’s immediate response and support,” Guterres said in a report (PDF) this month, reiterating his support for the armed force.

    Police officers walk near people carrying their belongings amid gang violence in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince
    Police officers walk near people who carry their belongings after fleeing their homes due to clashes between gangs, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on April 24, 2023 [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

    The UN secretary-general also warned that insecurity in Port-au-Prince had “reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict”.

    But many Haitian civil society leaders have rejected the prospect of international intervention, saying history has demonstrated that foreign forces bring “more problems than solutions”.

    Meanwhile, efforts to set up the international armed force have stalled, with no country agreeing to lead such a mission.

    Instead, the US and some of its allies, notably Canada, have focused on providing equipment and training to the Haitian National Police and sanctioning individuals accused of enabling and profiting from the instability.

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  • Haiti crisis looms large as Biden visits Canada’s Trudeau

    Haiti crisis looms large as Biden visits Canada’s Trudeau

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    Montreal, Canada – For many months, daily life in Haiti’s capital has been marked by widespread violence and deepening political instability since powerful armed gangs seized control of the streets of Port-au-Prince.

    The still-unfolding crisis is expected to figure prominently in discussions this week between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and United States President Joe Biden, who will be making his first official trip to Canada since taking office in early 2021.

    Washington has been pushing Ottawa to lead a multinational armed force in Haiti, and Biden is expected to seek an answer from Trudeau on whether Ottawa intends to take up the mission during his visit to the Canadian capital on Thursday and Friday.

    But experts say Canada is not ready to lead such a deployment, instead supporting what it calls a “Haitian-led solution” to the country’s political crisis while also advancing a sanctions regime and increased assistance to the Haitian National Police.

    Canada is “not going to get pushed – even by a very strong, powerful neighbour like the US – into doing something it doesn’t want to do here”, said Stephen Baranyi, a professor of international development at the University of Ottawa and an expert on Haiti.

    He said Ottawa’s strategy is based on an assessment that Trudeau and other officials have stated publicly,”that past interventions have failed, that a new approach is needed and at the centre of that has to be a respect for and support for this idea of Haitian-led solutions”.

    “That’s been a sensible position, but we have to acknowledge that the dilemmas arising from that approach are becoming sharper and sharper,” especially as the security situation continues to deteriorate in Port-au-Prince, Baranyi told Al Jazeera.

    “The political process is taking a long time, and so many people are asking, ‘Well, until when can Haitians wait?’” he said.

    ‘Specialised armed force’

    Haiti’s interim prime minister, Ariel Henry, asked the international community in October to help deploy a “specialised armed force” to push back gangs and restore order in the country of 11 million people.

    At the time, a powerful gang coalition had maintained a weeks-long blockade on the main petrol terminal in Port-au-Prince, causing water and electricity shortages, forcing the closure of health facilities and severely disrupting movement in the city.

    Henry’s request drew support from the US as well as the United Nations, but it also set off angry protests. Some Haitians called for the resignation of the prime minister, who has faced a crisis of legitimacy since he took up his post after the July 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moise.

    Haitian civil society leaders also rejected the idea, warning that a history of foreign interventions and occupations, including by the US, has shown such deployments bring “more problems than solutions”. Instead, they called for outside forces to stem the flow of weapons into Haiti and bolster its police force.

    While the US has touted the need for an international force in Haiti, it has shown no desire to lead it. After the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, another intervention “simply has political implications and carries baggage, if you will, for the White House”, said Georges Fauriol, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, DC.

    For Canada, “there is a sort of legitimate concern that this is potentially an open-ended kind of operation,” Fauriol told Al Jazeera. He noted that Haiti is not only grappling with the surge in gang violence but also faces high unemployment, internal displacement and a health crisis.

    So while “the Haitian-led solution concept is a good one”, he said, Haitians have faced a challenge in generating a consensus.

    Indeed, Haiti, which is largely without any functioning government institutions, is juggling competing visions for how to solve the political deadlock. One is backed by Henry and the other by prominent opposition figures and civil society groups.

    Fauriol said one way to help bridge the gap in Haiti might be for Canada and the US to agree to appoint “a trusted go-between that would represent international views without pressing on the Haitians themselves but at least would encourage them towards a workable plan”.

    “Simply kicking the can down the road isn’t going to help,” he said.

    Sanctions, other measures

    In Canada, as questions swirl around the prospect of sending an armed force to Haiti ahead of Biden’s arrival, Trudeau and his ministers have repeatedly reinforced their approach to the crisis.

    “Outside intervention as we’ve done in the past hasn’t worked to create long-term stability for Haiti,” the prime minister told reporters in mid-March as he stressed the need to bolster the Haitian police and other national institutions.

    In past months, Ottawa has delivered security equipment to the police force, imposed sanctions against more than a dozen Haitian political figures and other “elites” accused of being linked to gangs and deployed a military aircraft in the skies above Haiti to provide aerial surveillance and intelligence information.

    The Canadian government also provided $100m Canadian ($73m) in aid to Haiti last year and has contributed $12.3m Canadian ($9m) so far in 2023, said Charlotte MacLeod, a spokesperson for Canada’s foreign affairs department.

    Asked if Ottawa would lead a multinational armed force, MacLeod told Al Jazeera in an email: “At all times, solutions must be made by and for Haitians. Canada is leading international efforts to support Haiti, the Haitian people, and a Haitian-led solution to the crisis.”

    Canada’s top general also has cast doubt on the Canadian military’s ability to lead a mission to Haiti. “My concern is just our capacity,” Chief of the Defence Staff Wayne Eyre said in a recent interview with the Reuters news agency. “It would be challenging.”

    According to Fauriol, Biden’s talks with Trudeau this week are “critical” given the deteriorating security situation in Haiti. “If there isn’t some sort of a breakthrough at the Ottawa meeting, when you look at the calendar, you’re not quite sure exactly what happens next,” he said.

    Baranyi said he believes a major breakthrough is unlikely but that each side would try to get the other to move closer to its respective goals. That means “the Americans will try to get Canada to move faster in planning for a possible multinational force” while “Canada will try to get Washington to broaden its sanctions.”

    A bridge between the two positions, Baranyi said, would be to back Haitian dialogue that could lead to limited international intervention – “mostly policing, time-bound [with] clear rules of engagement” – as well as a political transition agreement that could lay a path towards elections.

    “Without a political agreement inside Haiti [that is] fairly broadly based, … an international intervention will not have domestic legitimacy,” the professor said. “It also might not have domestic legitimacy in countries like Canada.”

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  • Colombia, ELN rebels hail progress in second round of peace talks

    Colombia, ELN rebels hail progress in second round of peace talks

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    ELN official says two sides took ‘first steps’ towards a temporary ceasefire as negotiations in Mexico City conclude.

    Colombia’s government and the left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group have hailed progress in their efforts to end decades of armed conflict in the South American nation, as a second round of peace talks concluded in Mexico City.

    The negotiations come as part of an effort by President Gustavo Petro – the country’s first left-wing leader and former M-19 rebel – to reach peace or surrender deals with armed groups and bring “total peace” to Colombia.

    The ELN, founded by Catholic priests in 1964, is the country’s largest remaining rebel organisation.

    “We took the first steps to firm up a bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire which will create better conditions for Colombians’ mobilisation and participation in the peace process,” the ELN’s Pablo Beltran said on Friday.

    Otty Patino, the head of the Colombian government’s delegation, said creating a ceasefire will be a top challenge for the next cycle of talks set to take place in Cuba, as will developing a “pilot plan” for peace and expanding participation in the negotiations.

    The first round of peace talks, held in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas late last year, resulted in diverging narratives. Colombia’s government announced a truce had been reached while the ELN denied it had accepted any such agreement, saying a ceasefire “was merely a proposal to be considered”.

    Previous negotiations with the ELN have faltered amid the group’s diffuse chain of command and dissent within its ranks.

    In 2019, conservative former President Ivan Duque called off peace talks with the ELN after a car bomb attack on a police academy in Bogota that killed 22 people.

    ELN leaders have said fighters are on board with the current talks.

    On Friday, Norway and Mexico, which have served as facilitators in the negotiations, hailed their progress.

    “Congratulations to the [Colombian] government and the #ELN guerilla on substantial progress in the peace talks in Mexico, on key topics like participation, humanitarian relief & future cease fire,” Norway’s foreign affairs ministry tweeted.

    The ELN has about 2,500 remaining fighters and has been accused of financing itself through drug trafficking, illegal mining and kidnappings.

    Petro, who won the election in June, has also said he plans to fully implement a previous accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed in 2016.

    More than 450,000 people have been killed in nearly 60 years of armed conflict in the country.

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  • The cost of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s war with M23

    The cost of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s war with M23

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    From: UpFront

    The DRC’s Minister of Communications, Patrick Muyaya, on the fighting in his country and Rwanda’s role in the conflict.

    Continuing fighting in the resource-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo, between the army and the Mouvement du 23 Mars, or M23, has left hundreds dead and millions displaced in the country’s eastern provinces.

    The DRC government blames neighbouring Rwanda for supporting M23, an allegation Kigali has denied, despite evidence documented by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch among others.

    As fighting intensifies, many fear the conflict could escalate into war between the two countries.

    So what’s in store for the Congolese people? And is there a path towards peace?

    On UpFront, DRC Minister of Communications and government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, joins Marc Lamont Hill to discuss the conflict in his country and address regional fears that the fighting could spill across DRC’s borders.

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  • UNICEF urges release of 13 kidnapped children in eastern DRC

    UNICEF urges release of 13 kidnapped children in eastern DRC

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    The ADF, a central African affiliate of ISIL, is one of the deadliest armed groups in eastern DRC.

    The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF urged on Friday for the release of 13 children who were abducted during a deadly attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern region this month.

    In a statement, the agency said 11 boys and two girls were believed to have been kidnapped by an armed group during an attack on a village in North Kivu province.

    “UNICEF which condemns the abduction, is concerned that the abducted children are being inhumanely treated and is calling for them to be released immediately,” it said.

    On January 22, suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) members killed at least 23 people during an attack on the village of Makugwe and kidnapped several people, sources previously told AFP.

    The ADF is one of the deadliest armed groups in eastern DRC, a volatile region that has been plagued by violence for decades.

    The armed group – which the ISIL (ISIS) group has claimed as its central African affiliate – has been accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bomb attacks in Uganda.

    There are more than 120 other armed groups in eastern DRC, including the M23 rebels, which Kinshasa, the EU and UN have said are being backed by Rwanda. Kigali has continued to deny the allegations.

    In 2021, the United States officially linked the ADF to ISIL and added it to its list of foreign “terrorist” organisations.

    On January 15, suspected ADF operatives also detonated a bomb in a church in North Kivu, killing at least 14 people and injuring another 63.

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  • UN condemns M23 rebel offensive on DRC town as hundreds flee

    UN condemns M23 rebel offensive on DRC town as hundreds flee

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    The M23 rebels have seized areas of eastern DRC’s North Kivu province in a rapid onslaught since May.

    The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has condemned an offensive by M23 rebels in the east of the country that forced 450 people, including women and children, to seek refuge around its base in Kitshanga town.

    “The M23 must cease all hostility and withdraw from occupied areas, in accordance with the roadmap set out in the Luanda mini-summit,” the mission, known by its acronym MONUSCO, said on Twitter on Thursday.

    The Kitshanga attack is a new offensive by rebels who have seized areas of eastern DRC’s North Kivu province in a rapid onslaught since May that threatened the provincial capital, Goma.

    The armed uprising has inflamed regional tensions, with DRC accusing neighbour Rwanda of backing and sponsoring the Tutsi-led rebellion. United Nations experts and the European Union have accused Rwanda of backing the M23.

    The government of Rwanda has denied any involvement.

    Regional leaders brokered an agreement in November under which the rebels were meant to withdraw from recently seized positions by January 15 as part of attempts to end the fighting that has displaced at least 450,000 people.

    But a UN internal report said the rebels were flouting the ceasefire.

    Two witnesses who fled Kitshanga and joined the throng of refugees at the MONUSCO base said the rebels had taken control of the town.

    A spokesman for the DRC government and the army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The M23 said in a statement that it was obliged to intervene to protect Tutsis in Kitshanga and other areas.

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  • Kenyan security forces kill 10 suspected al-Shabab fighters

    Kenyan security forces kill 10 suspected al-Shabab fighters

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    Kenya has suffered attacks for a decade as retribution for joining the peacekeeping force fighting al-Shabab in Somalia.

    Kenyan security forces have killed 10 fighters from the Somalia-based al-Shabab group in eastern Kenya, a government official says.

    They also recovered rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices after fighting the group on Wednesday in the village of Galmagalla in Garissa county, Thomas Bett, deputy county commissioner of the Bura East sub-county, said on Thursday.

    “The operation to flush out the Somalia militants’ group in the region was carried out by our multi-agency team, … and [it] managed to neutralise 10 Islamist group militants and recovered assault weapons,” he told the Reuters new agency.

    Spokespeople for al-Shabab could not be reached for comment.

    The al-Qaeda affiliate has made incursions into Kenya for years to pressure the country into withdrawing its troops from the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force helping Somalia’s central government fight the group.

    Al-Shabab has targeted security forces, schools, vehicles, towns and telecommunications infrastructure in eastern Kenya although the frequency and intensity of their attacks have declined in recent years.

    A 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall Nairobi, killed 67 people.

    Al-Shabab has been fighting for more than a decade to topple Somalia’s central government and establish its own rule, based on its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

    Last week, the group killed four workers from Kenya’s highway authority when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Garissa county. On Tuesday, one person died when a convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in the same region, police said in a report.

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  • DRC police disperse protest against slow M23 rebel pullback

    DRC police disperse protest against slow M23 rebel pullback

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    The rebels have been accused of flouting a ceasefire and making withdrawals critics consider to be mainly ceremonial.

    Police have fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern city of Goma. Protesters on Wednesday were calling for authorities to enforce an agreed withdrawal of M23 rebels from occupied territory in the region.

    Regional leaders brokered a ceasefire in November, under which the Tutsi-led M23 group – which launched a fresh offensive last year – was meant to pull out of recently captured positions. The deadline for this was January 15, according to the DRC’s presidency.

    But M23 has been accused of flouting the deal and occupying territory elsewhere to compensate for withdrawals that critics have argued were mainly ceremonial. President Felix Tshisekedi made similar accusations on Tuesday.

    The M23 has denied the claims and in turn, accused DRC authorities of breaching of the agreement.

    Civil society groups called protests in Goma on Wednesday to denounce delays in implementing the M23 withdrawal.

    City authorities had banned the march, but hundreds still took part, chanting and holding signs denouncing the East African Community (EAC), which set up a regional military force last year to end the unrest.

    “We are asking EAC forces to leave the city and wage offensives where the M23 is,” said protester Gloire Bagaya, 26.

    “They should either go home or go the front line against the enemy.”

    Police fired tear gas at the demonstrators and arrested about a dozen people, including three journalists, according to a Reuters reporter on the scene.

    A local police commander denied that any arrests were made. The EAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The M23’s latest offensive has displaced at least 450,000 people and set off a diplomatic crisis between DRC and neighbouring Rwanda.

    The DRC has accused Rwanda of exacerbating the conflict by supporting the rebels – an accusation levelled also by Western powers and United Nations experts. Rwanda has denied the claims.

    Several protests have taken place in Goma during the past months, the latest directed at Rwanda and the ceasefire deal.

    Complaints that UN peacekeepers have failed to protect civilians against longstanding militia violence spurred deadly protests.

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  • Seven soldiers killed in al-Shabab attack on Somali military base

    Seven soldiers killed in al-Shabab attack on Somali military base

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    Government forces and allied clan militias recaptured the base from al-Shabab in October.

    Fighters from the al-Shabab group stormed a military base in central Somalia that the government had recaptured from them last year, killing at least seven soldiers, including the base commander, an officer said.

    Assailants from the al-Qaeda affiliate rammed the base in the village of Hawadley with a suicide car bomb on Tuesday and then opened fire, Captain Aden Nur, a military officer in a nearby town, told the Reuters news agency.

    “We repelled al-Shabab [but] lost seven soldiers, including our commander,” Nur told Reuters.

    Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying it had killed “many apostate soldiers and their commander”.

    The base is located about 60km (35 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu, and was wrested from al-Shabab’s control in October by government forces and allied clan militias.

    The operation was part of a broader government offensive, which began in August and has made significant gains. On Monday, the government announced it had captured Harardhere, an al-Shabab stronghold on the Indian Ocean coast that it had held for a decade.

    As pressure on al-Shabab has grown, its fighters have struck back. They have stepped up gun and bomb attacks on the military and civilians, including in areas where they have retreated.

    The group has been fighting since 2007 to topple Somalia’s central government and impose its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

    In some regions, residents said al-Shabab’s tactics – including torching houses, destroying wells and killing civilians, combined with demands for taxes during the worst drought in 40 years – has pushed locals to form paramilitary groups to fight alongside the government.

    But in other towns and villages, al-Shabab’s courts are gaining widespread acceptance as constitutional courts struggle with backlogs and a perception of being corrupt.

    The conflict has contributed to a food crisis in Somalia. More than 200,000 Somalis are suffering from catastrophic food shortages, and some parts of central Somalia are on the brink of famine.

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  • Turkey says Kurdish armed groups in Syria ‘legitimate targets’

    Turkey says Kurdish armed groups in Syria ‘legitimate targets’

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    Ibrahim Kalin, the presidential spokesperson, tells Al Jazeera that Ankara will target the PKK, YPG and PYD Kurdish groups to protect its borders.

    The spokesperson for the Turkish presidency has told Al Jazeera that Kurdish armed groups in Syria are “legitimate targets”, and accused them of exploiting ties with the United States to justify their presence along Turkey’s border with Syria.

    In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara is after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its offshoots the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD) groups to protect its borders.

    Ankara has blamed the outlawed PKK, YPG and their affiliated groups for the November 13 Istanbul blast as well as previous attacks. The PKK has been waging a decades-long bloody armed rebellion for autonomy in Turkey’s southeast. Ankara, along with its NATO allies – the US and European Union – have declared the PKK a “terrorist” organisation.

    “For us, any and all PKK, PYD, YPG establishments, elements, posts, military points are legitimate targets for us,” Kalin said during the interview with the Talk to Al Jazeera programme, whether they are in Syria or Turkey.

    “They are legitimate targets because they are terrorist organisations,” he continued. “We go after them to protect our borders. We don’t target Russian or American soldiers or military posts in Syria or anywhere else.”

    Kalin went on to say that the PKK, PYD, and YPG “elements” have in the past used American and the Syrian regime flags to “protect themselves”.

    “That itself shows the extent of the PYD and YPG using their alliance with the United States to legitimise their own presence in northern Syria,” he said.

    The presidential spokesperson said that the recent “terrorist” attack on Istiklal Street in Istanbul prompted Turkey to respond. The perpetrator, a Syrian woman of Kurdish descent, was trained by Kurdish fighters there, the government said.

    “Our initial response was to coordinate and conduct a number of air operations,” Kalin said. “And of course, depending on the threat level as assessed by our intelligence and our air defence ministry and the related agencies, we will go after these terrorists, whether from the air or from the ground.”

    Turkey has ramped up its shelling and air raids on northern Syria in recent weeks and has been preparing a ground invasion against the YPG, a majority-Kurdish force that dominates the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) based in Syria. Ankara has reportedly targeted several military sites belonging to SDF in Syria’s Raqqa.

    Belghan Ozturk, a security analyst, said that the Istanbul bombing attack was “a red line for Turkey’s state stability and national security”.

    “So the YPG carried out rocket attacks in retaliation of the Turkish air raids,” Ozturk said from Denver, Colorado. “Turkey wants to make sure the YPG was in no capacity to undertake further attacks – within Turkey and cross border rocket attacks.”

    The delay could be because of the resistance Turkey has faced from several international powers involved in Syria, including Iran, Russia and the United States.

    On Friday, SDF, which controls territory in northern Syria, said it would no longer participate in joint counterterrorism operations with the US and other allies in the wake of the Turkish attacks. The SDF says it has documented about 70 attacks since the operation was announced.

    A spokesperson for the SDF said that “all coordination and joint counterterrorism operations” with the US-led coalition battling remnants of ISIL (ISIS) in Syria as well as “all the joint special operations we were carrying out regularly” had been halted.

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  • Colombia armed groups confining people to homes, communities: NRC

    Colombia armed groups confining people to homes, communities: NRC

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    Norwegian Refugee Council calls for ‘lasting peace’ to end restrictions on freedom of movement across Colombia.

    Armed groups in Colombia are confining people to their homes and communities in a bid to exert control over territory, said the Norwegian Refugee Council, which called on the authorities to do more to ensure citizens can move freely.

    The NRC said on Thursday that millions of people are affected by six “ongoing non-international armed conflicts” in which armed groups use confinement “to exert control over isolated communities and territories that are often used for illicit activities”.

    “Imagine being forced to stay in your home by men with guns – day after day. The confinements in Colombia mean you can’t work, visit your family or send your children to school,” Juan Gabriel Wells, interim country director for NRC in Colombia, said in a statement.

    “We call on the Colombian government and non-state armed actors to agree on a lasting peace that benefits the vulnerable populations affected by these inhumane restrictions of movement.”

    Thursday marks the six-year anniversary of a peace deal between Bogota and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that saw members of the left-wing rebel group lay down their weapons. But some FARC dissidents rejected the agreement and have picked up arms again.

    Violence has surged in Colombia since the signing of the accord, especially in parts of the country that lay outside government control and where armed groups are involved in drug trafficking and other illicit activities.

    Last weekend, at least 18 people died in fighting involving FARC dissidents and a criminal band that calls itself “Comandos de la Frontera” or “Border Commandos” in southwest Colombia, near the border with Ecuador. The two groups were battling for control of drug trafficking routes.

    The incident marked the deadliest fight between illegal armed groups since left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro took office in August.

    Petro has promised to bring “total peace” to the country after nearly six decades of armed conflict that left at least 450,000 dead between 1985 and 2018 alone.

    And earlier this week, Petro’s government began peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest remaining rebel group, in neighbouring Venezuela.

    The delegates said in a joint declaration that they had gathered to restart a dialogue “with full political and ethical will, as demanded by the people of rural and urban territories that suffer from violence and exclusion, and other sectors of society”.

    The first round of negotiations will last 20 days, with diplomats from Venezuela, Cuba and Norway helping in the negotiations, while representatives from Chile and Spain will observe the process.

    Citing figures from the United Nations humanitarian affairs office (UN-OCHA), the NRC said on Thursday that more than 2.6 million people had their movements restricted so far this year due to continuing violence, with “Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities being some of the worst affected”.

    “The rules imposed by the armed groups are: ‘you can’t go out;’ ‘you can’t use that road;’ ‘we don’t want to see any people passing through here.’ We are trapped,” Cecil, an Indigenous teacher from the Pacific coast region, said in the NRC statement.

    “Where I live, we are afraid to walk [outside] – we can’t do it freely,” a resident of southwest Colombia, Nelsa, also said.

    President Gustavo Petro has promised to bring ‘total peace’ to Colombia [File: Nathalia Angarita/Reuters]

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  • Kenya to spend $37m on sending troops to DR Congo

    Kenya to spend $37m on sending troops to DR Congo

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    Kenya’s Parliament has approved the deployment of nearly 1,000 soldiers for a new regional force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) amid questions about the $37m cost for the first six months of the mission.

    Local newspapers reported that the approval, which was given on Wednesday, came two days after Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale met the parliamentary defence committee.

    The committee report says the money will be spent on equipment, allowances, and operations for the more than 900 soldiers joining the East African Community Regional Force that will support Congolese forces against armed groups.

    Opposition lawmakers questioned why Kenya is spending so much money on the regional mission while the country faces its own security issues.

    Kenya also faces rising inflation and high public debt that President William Ruto inherited from his successor Uhuru Kenyatta.

    Last week, Ruto called the mission “necessary and urgent” for regional security. Violence by armed groups in the eastern part has led to a diplomatic crisis between DRC and neighbouring Rwanda, which accuse each other of backing certain groups.

    The Kenyan forces will be based in Goma, the largest city in the eastern DRC. The regional force, agreed upon by heads of state in June and led by a Kenyan commander, also has two battalions from Uganda, two from Burundi, and one from South Sudan.

    There is a possibility that international financing may be secured for the mission, the committee report said.

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  • Haitians push for local solutions as insecurity and violence soar

    Haitians push for local solutions as insecurity and violence soar

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    With violence gripping the streets of Port-au-Prince and no neighbourhood spared from the insecurity wrought by armed gangs or critical shortages of fuel, virtually everyone in Haiti’s capital is living in a state of uncertainty, says resident Judes Jonathas.

    “We don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” Jonathas, senior programme manager at the Mercy Corps humanitarian group in Haiti, recently told Al Jazeera in a video call, describing how not a day had gone by in the past week in which he hadn’t heard gunshots ring out.

    “It’s as if we’re living minute to minute. We go out, we don’t know if we’ll be coming back.”

    Haiti, which has faced years of political instability, is in the middle of a deepening crisis as powerful gangs recently seized control of a key petrol terminal in Port-au-Prince, cutting residents and healthcare facilities off from much-needed supplies.

    Last week, acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry appealed to the international community to set up a “specialised armed force” to quell the violence, but civil society groups and rights advocates have said Henry has no legitimacy — and they have rejected the prospect of foreign intervention.

    “There is frustration, there is anger, there is resignation … it’s across all classes [of people],” said Jonathas, about the worsening conditions. “Most Haitians are traumatised.”

    International intervention

    Haiti’s council of ministers authorised Henry late last week to seek assistance from “international partners” to help immediately deploy the “specialised armed force” to address a humanitarian crisis unfolding across the country as a result of the gangs.

    The Caribbean nation this month reported its first cholera cases in more than three years, and rights groups said the fuel blockade was impeding healthcare workers’ response. Many communities do not have access to clean water, already-high rates of hunger are set to worsen, and about 1.2 million children are at risk due to the cholera outbreak.

    Bocchit Edmond, the Haitian ambassador to the United States, recently told the Reuters news agency that he hoped the US and Canada would “take the lead and move fast” on the country’s call for help.

    The US Department of State said on Saturday that it was reviewing Haiti’s request, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a day later urged “the international community, including the members of the Security Council, to consider [it] as of matter of urgency”.

    Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration “will accelerate the delivery of additional humanitarian relief to the people of Haiti”. Blinken on Wednesday also announced new visa restrictions on Haitian officials and others “involved in the operation of street gangs and other Haitian criminal organisations”. He did not specify which officials were targeted.

    Brian Nichols, the assistant US secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, also travelled to Port-au-Prince on Wednesday for a series of meetings, saying Washington remained “committed to the health, safety, and security of the Haitian people”.

    Translation: We appreciate the commitment of Canada and the US alongside Haiti in these difficult times. It is absolutely urgent that our [international] partners act in solidarity with us to help us get out of this [situation].

    While some Haitians said outside help is urgently needed, many view potential international intervention with scepticism and scorn after a long history of foreign occupations.

    Over the past decades, various UN deployments aimed at restoring security and strengthening the country’s institutions have largely failed. UN peacekeepers also have been linked to sexual violence against women and girls in Haiti, and to a 2010 outbreak of cholera that killed about 10,000 people and caused more than 820,000 infections.

    The Groupe de Travail sur la Securite (GTS), a Haitian citizen-led, security think-tank, in August rejected the prospect of a new UN deployment “under the false pretext of helping us restore a climate of security”.

    “The Haitian people have kept the bitter taste of a foreign force in charge of our situation: theft, rape, cholera, food dependence, deregulation of the economic system, without mentioning the fact that we don’t remember seeing then-gang leaders be arrested or rendered unable to do harm.”

    Rosy Auguste Ducena, a lawyer and programme director at the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) in Haiti, said, “History has shown us more than once that foreign forces bring us more problems than solutions.”

    “It’s a bit like repeating the same mistakes,” Ducena told Al Jazeera, explaining that RNDDH had warned for years about a deteriorating security situation and called for the Haitian National Police (PNH) to be vetted to remove corrupt officers and then strengthened to take on armed groups.

    But Ducena said the Haitian authorities never acted to address that key problem, while rights groups also documented that members of Moise and Henry’s Parti Haitien Tet Kale (PHTK) were linked to gangs (PDF). “The Haitian state needs to be de-gangster-ised,” she said.

    “We stand firm on this: there is nothing in terms of insecurity that the police would not be able to resolve”, added Ducena — if given the “arms, munitions and equipment proportional to all the arms and munitions that have been distributed to the armed bandits”.

    Flow of weapons, sanctions

    People also have denounced Western nations for continuing to back Henry, despite the prime minister’s decision last year to indefinitely postpone presidential and legislative elections, as well as a constitutional referendum, amid the political crisis.

    Henry, who is backed by the CORE Group of nations, which includes the US and Canada, has opposed a citizen-led initiative known as the Montana Accord, which was formulated by leading Haitian civil society groups and would set up a two-year transitional government.

    US lawmakers recently urged (PDF) President Joe Biden’s administration to “lend its support for legitimate efforts to create a transitional Haitian government that respects the will of the Haitian people”, as well as “make it clear to Henry that it will not support him as he blocks progress”.

    While the political deadlock has persisted, Haitian rights advocates have called for other measures to try to bring an end to the crisis, including ending the flow of weapons to gangs — particularly from the US — and sanctioning corrupt figures.

    “Impose sanctions on high-profile individuals involved in corruption and who support and facilitate gang violence in Haiti [and] adopt drastic measures to stop the illicit trafficking of weapons from the US to Haiti,” Velina Elysee Charlier, an activist with anti-corruption group Nou Pap Domi, told the US House Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing in late September.

    “For decades, the international community has been violating Haiti’s self-determination and sovereignty; that must end. What we need is cooperation in a spirit of solidarity and mutual respect,” she said.

    That was echoed by Jonathas in Port-au-Prince, who said the country’s problems did not happen overnight, nor will there be a “magic solution”.

    “You have to go to the root causes. You will always find a story behind the gangs … a story of frustration, a story of social inequality,” he told Al Jazeera. “We can always say, ‘we’re going to dismantle the gangs.’ But what will we do then to make sure this doesn’t keep happening?

    “We need partnership and collaboration from all those who really want to support us.”

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