Here the gangs have taken over - the UN sends special forces

Haiti  

Here, the UN deploys a special force to crush the gangs  

Wolfgang Hansson  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

Updated 20:02 | Published at 7:03 p.m  

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Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP  

I don't know if it's really any consolation, but there are countries where gang violence is even worse than in Sweden.  

The UN Security Council has just agreed to send a special force to Haiti to crush the gangs. 

The country is perhaps the worst example that exists of how it can go if you let organized crime eat its way into society. 

It must be said directly that it is difficult to draw any parallels between the situation in Haiti and Sweden. 

Haiti is one of the world's poorest countries. Two years ago, the country's president was assassinated by a mercenary force from Colombia. No elections have been held in the country for many years, which has created a political vacuum.  

Something that has been exploited by the organized crime which, among other things, is controlled by corrupt political parties and former police officers.  

           

Demonstration against the violence in Port-au-Prince in August. Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP  

So far this year, more than 2,400 people have fallen victim to the deadly gang violence. Close to a thousand have been kidnapped for ransom. The country is as close to total anarchy as it gets.  

The country's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has for the past year appealed to the international community to intervene. But because of past failures with peacekeeping troops and other efforts in Haiti, the UN has hesitated. 

         

         Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Photo: Bing Guan/AP 

In addition, the Security Council has been paralyzed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The atmosphere between Russia and China and above all the USA has been extremely infected.  

Therefore, it must still be seen as a success that the Security Council managed to come together to a decision. Russia and China abstained but refrained from exercising their vetoes. The other 13 voted yes.

However, the UN does not send a traditional peacekeeping force. Instead, they instruct Kenya and other countries that want to contribute to send at least 1,000 police officers to Haiti.  

Their task will be to secure important institutions and strategic infrastructure such as airports, ports, schools, hospitals and major street intersections. 

The force should be in place within a few months.  

          

Burning tires during protests against the violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP  

The goal is for them to work together with the Haitian police and create a sufficiently stable situation for general elections to be held in the future. 

It will definitely not be an easy task.  

Although Kenya is to contribute the large force, a number of Haiti's neighbors have also promised to send police. For Sweden, Haiti can serve both as a consolation and at the same time a deterrent example. 

Here at home, there are many who think that our society is beginning to resemble a war zone when homes are blown up and shooting takes place indiscriminately in public places. But Haiti is living proof that there are places where it is even worse.  

But to even for a second have to compare yourself to a country like Haiti is a defeat in itself. Although no one believes that the situation will ever be as dire in Sweden.  

Haiti is an example of how bad it can get when you let corruption and organized crime go on year after year without the state being able to put its foot down. In the end, it is hardly possible to distinguish between what is state and what is gang crime. 

The United States and Kenya signed a defense agreement Monday to combat gang violence in Haiti with the help of Kenyan military forces. Photo: Khalil Senosi/AP  

The entire rule of law has collapsed like a house of cards.  

The  question is, however, whether a thousand police officers from Kenya and a number from neighboring countries are enough to turn the tide. Despite the fact that it feels like the outside world should intervene in some way to help the hard-pressed population, there are many who are critical of the planned effort. 

They point to how previous UN missions have been marred by sexual abuse, caused cholera epidemics and other misery. 

Another important detail is that Kenya's police speak English, while in Haiti they speak French and Creole. How are the Kenyan police supposed to be able to communicate with either their colleagues or the local population?  

has a poor reputation for upholding human rights.  

Others point to the police force becoming a support for the sitting prime minister whose legitimacy can be strongly questioned.

Even Kenya's police have a poor reputation when it comes to enforcing human rights. Others point to the police force becoming a support for the sitting prime minister whose legitimacy can be strongly questioned.But that applies to whoever holds that role and someone has to lead the country.  

Shortly, a trial will begin in Florida on the assassination of President Moise. Among the accused are a retired Colombian army captain and a Haitian-Chilean businessman.  

They are both members of a group that in the United States and in Haiti conspired to assassinate the president in the hope that with him out of the way they could get lucrative government business contracts. 

In a state where criminal gangs have eaten into the fabric of society, there are no limits to what they are prepared to do.