More US money, more vehicles to get Haiti stable with 580,000 displaced

Garfield Ekon

Staff writer

July 30, 2024 – The United States (US) Government is providing an additional US$60 million in additional humanitarian assistance and other boost for the restoration of governance, for the Caribbean island of Haiti.

Making the disclosure, US Ambassador to Haiti, Linda Thomas-Greenfield also said the U.S. Defense Department will be providing a substantial increase in mine-resistant vehicles to the United Nations (UN) backed, multinational security mission led by Kenya to help the island’s national police combat widespread gang violence.

“We know that progress isn’t lineal. There will be inevitable setbacks and stumbling blocks, and yet this mission has opened a door to progress,” the Ambassador said, after the Kenyan sent the first 200 of 1000 police officers to Haiti.

On Monday, Thomas-Greenfield met with Kenyan police and leaders of Haiti’s new transitional Government as part of a one-day visit to encourage action on the humanitarian crisis and political reform leading to democratic elections that have yet to be scheduled.

She reported that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) assistance, which now totals more than $165 million this fiscal year, would fill gaps in nutrition, food security and shelter; improve water and sanitation services; and provide Haitians with cash to buy basic goods.

“This isn’t a naïve sense of hope, but I do have a sense of hope. This has been a remarkable day on the ground,” she said. The U.S. has provided over $300 million to the force, whose formation was supported by a U.N. resolution.

Haiti had asked for the immediate deployment of a foreign armed force to fight gangs in late 2022, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for months for a country to lead the force before the Kenyans came forward.

According to U.N. agencies, the violence has displaced 580,000 people, more than half of whom are children, and resulted in four million people facing food insecurity.