The combination of the September fuel blockade, the cholera outbreak, the nationwide protests, and the continuing expansion of gang violence pushed calls for an international security assistance mission to Haiti to a new level of urgency in October 2022. Prime Minister Henry formally requested international military assistance in addressing Haiti’s security crisis, an appeal directed primarily at the United States and the United Nations Security Council.
Henry’s request put the international community in a difficult position. The humanitarian and security situation in Haiti was genuinely desperate and clearly beyond the capacity of Haitian institutions to address unaided. At the same time, the history of international security interventions in Haiti — particularly MINUSTAH, which had introduced cholera, committed sexual abuses, and ultimately failed to build sustainable Haitian security capacity — generated significant reservations about the wisdom and effectiveness of another intervention.
The United States was cautious, aware of its complicated history of interventions in Haiti and reluctant to commit forces without a clear mandate, exit strategy, and Haitian political framework that could give an intervention legitimacy. American officials explored options for providing support to the Haitian police and other security institutions without a direct military deployment.
At the United Nations, Security Council members debated the parameters of any authorized international security mission, with some pushing for a robust intervention force and others expressing reservations about scope, cost, and the risk of mission creep in a complex political environment. The debate would continue into 2023 before Kenya stepped forward with an offer to lead a multinational security support mission that would eventually be authorized by the Security Council.