The Multinational Security Support Mission and Haitian National Police conducted joint operations in late August and September 2024 that cleared gang presence from several key neighborhoods in northern Port-au-Prince, providing the first concrete evidence that the combined force could produce security improvements in specific areas. The operations were welcomed by communities that had lived under gang control for months and provided a demonstration effect that the mission could point to in defense of its approach.
The cleared neighborhoods experienced immediate improvements in daily life conditions: markets reopened, residents ventured outside, children returned to some schools, and economic activity began to resume cautiously. The improvements were real, if fragile — everyone in the affected areas understood that security gains could be reversed if the mission’s presence was reduced and gang networks moved back in.
The sustainability of the security gains was the central question that the operations raised. Without sufficient personnel to maintain presence in cleared areas while simultaneously expanding operations to other gang-controlled neighborhoods, the mission faced difficult choices about where to concentrate its limited forces. Clearing and holding territory required different force levels than clearing alone.
Security analysts studying the mission’s operations noted both the genuine progress and the significant limitations. The scale of what had been achieved was real but modest relative to what was needed. Hundreds of neighborhoods remained under gang control. The mission would need to grow significantly — in personnel, equipment, and funding — to produce the citywide security improvement that Haiti needed. The September operations were a promising beginning, not a turning point.