The United Nations has secured the deployment of 1,500 Chadian troops to Haiti, an intervention framed as a 'security effort' against gang violence, yet it arrives as the Haitian working class and dispossessed continue to bear the brunt of a collapsing social order, with at least 30 people killed and dozens missing in recent weeks alone. This foreign military deployment represents a continuation of external interventions in a nation where local populations face escalating violence and a state apparatus unable or unwilling to protect them.
Chadian President Mahamat Déby Itno announced the deployment of two battalions, totaling 1,500 troops, for a period of one year, commencing this month. A contingent of 400 men has already been dispatched to the Caribbean nation.
President Déby Itno stated that this mission "honors Chad and its defense and security forces," positioning Chad as a willing participant in the projection of external force. This aligns its military apparatus with the objectives of international bodies that historically serve to stabilize regions for global capital, often under the guise of humanitarian or security concerns.
The State's Role in 'Security'
This latest foreign military presence follows a request by the United Nations and an approval by the U.N. Security Council last year to expand a Kenya-led multinational force. The expanded force, now authorized for 5,500 troops and termed the Gang Suppression Force, was granted new powers, including the ability to arrest suspected gang members. This represents an escalation of state-sanctioned force, ostensibly to restore order in a country where gangs control as much as 90% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and significant swaths of land in the central region.
The U.N. Security Council's decision to expand the force and its powers reflects a strategy of managing the symptoms of a deeper crisis through military means, rather than addressing the structural economic inequalities that fuel such instability. The primary function of such interventions often remains the protection of existing property relations and the creation of conditions conducive to capital accumulation, even as the local population suffers.
A Cycle of Intervention and Neglect
The current deployment is not the first attempt at external intervention. A previous mission, launched in its third year, was envisioned to include 2,500 personnel and was led by the Kenyan police. However, this earlier effort was "handicapped by a lack of staff and funds," a clear demonstration of the selective application of resources for 'security' operations that do not directly protect the immediate interests of global capital. This under-resourcing of previous efforts highlights the inherent limitations of liberal solutions that fail to address root causes.
The failure of previous, under-resourced interventions has left the Haitian people exposed to escalating violence. This includes a renewed attack by the Gran Grif gang on Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite last month, which human rights groups reported resulted in at least 30 fatalities and dozens of disappearances. This persistent instability also includes the assassination of the country’s former president, Jovenel Moïse, in his home in its fifth year. The repeated reliance on foreign military deployments, rather than addressing the fundamental economic and social contradictions that fuel instability, serves to manage symptoms while preserving the underlying conditions that allow for the continued extraction of wealth and the suppression of popular movements.