Word that, so far, only a contingent of 400 Chadian soldiers has arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as part of a new multinational anti-gang force is a bit underwhelming, to say the least. But we remain hopeful that the countries that pledged personnel, including police and military, to this new security effort will make good on their word.

Last month, Mr Jack Christofides, the special representative for the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), announced that the troop will deploy in “phases” over the coming months. The plan is for a 5,500-strong GSF to reverse gang control over 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince.

Analysts have argued that, while the GSF will provide more robust military support than previous missions, its ability to make a long-term difference depends on addressing deep-rooted security challenges, as sceptical Haitians and experts fear another ineffective
intervention.

Readers will recall that the GSF was approved by the UN Security Council, at the urging of the United States, last September amid concerns that the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) was under-equipped and under-funded.

Obviously, the shift to this new GSF is urgent, given the mayhem being unleashed on Haitians by callous, bloodthirsty gangsters who believe that they have a right to determine who lives and who dies.

Last week, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported that clashes between gangs in the suburbs of the Haitian capital have left at least 78 people dead and 66 wounded since May 9.

According to a provisional toll released last Thursday by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), violence since the May 9 weekend has displaced 5,300 people.

Additionally, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that several families are still trapped in the affected neighbourhoods of Cite Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets.

The AFP report also told us that a hospital and a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) facility have been forced to suspend operations and evacuate their staff. Before evacuating, MSF reported that 40 gunshot victims had been treated at the hospital in less than 12 hours.

“The same two communes in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area saw outbreaks of violence in March and April that displaced nearly 8,000 people,” AFP reported the UN as saying.

The news agency also told us that BINUH said that between March 5 and May 11 at least 305 people were killed and 277 wounded in Cite Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets.

The death, injury, and displacement tolls in Haiti over the past year are frightening. The International Organization for Migration reports that last year at least 5,626 people were killed in gang violence; between January 1 and March 31, 2026, at least 1,642 people have been killed or injured; and as of this month, more than 1.4 million people are internally displaced.

Further word out of Haiti is that young people are being relentlessly swallowed by the brutal grip of gangs engaged in wide-scale recruitment of children and teenagers by inducement or by force.

“Some youngsters run errands or act as lookouts, but many become fully fledged armed members who pillage, kill, and wage war on rival gangs or on the Haitian police,” according to a recent UN report on child trafficking.

The situation is growing more untenable by the day.

Mr Christofides is reported as saying, “There is an urgent need for concrete action to restore security and hope.”

Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime agrees: “The urgency is absolute. The deployment of the [Gang Suppression Force] must take place without delay,” he said.

We agree.

The GSF, we are told, will operate under a much broader mandate than its predecessor, allowing it to gather intelligence, conduct independent operations, and use more aggressive rules of engagement alongside Haitian authorities.

The task is huge, but we can’t give up on Haiti. It’s people have suffered for too long.