International
Little progress three months after the arrival in Haiti of the Security Support Mission
Three months after its deployment began in Haiti, the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMAS) still does not give the expected results: there is no significant progress, violence continues to reign and 80% of the capital remains in the hands of armed gangs.
“Are the Kenyans in Haiti? We have never seen them, no one has seen them. They don’t pass through the area,” neighbors and merchants of Marchand Salomon, in the heart of the capital, tell EFE.
If things have improved, they say, “it is by the will of the bandits that they have decided to let us work properly. The bandits use the area as a passage zone” and add: “If the Kenyans had come to save us, we would all be dead. It’s not the Kenyans who prevent the gangs from killing us. If they wanted to, they would do it.”
Lean results
Some patrols in certain streets, some joint operations with the Haitian National Police in Centre-ville in Port-au-Prince or in the communes of Delmas and Ganthier, clashes with armed gangs that result in deaths. This is the balance sheet of the multinational mission so far.
When visiting Haiti last Saturday, Kenyan President William Ruto praised the merits of the force, said that he had seen much progress in the Caribbean country and said that doubts, criticism and pessimism were decreasing in the face of Kenya leading a mission that has the approval of the UN.
According to Ruto, there is much more security at the airport, the National Palace, the State University Hospital, the Police Academy and the ports and now work is being done to reopen the roads (“the work is difficult, but we are capable of doing it”), but more resources and equipment are needed: “The troops we have in Haiti are not enough.”
On the ground you can see a resounding lack of logistics, equipment, personnel. The force should have 2,500 officers, but there are just over 420 (400 Kenyans, 20 soldiers and 4 Jamaican policemen and two Belizean soldiers). About twenty countries have committed to send troops and Ruto announced that, between October and November, another 600 troops from Kenya will be in Haiti.
In those days William O’Neill, an independent expert on the human rights situation in Haiti, declared: “the equipment received is inadequate and the resources insufficient (…) I am sad to say that all the indicators are still extremely worrying. The first, and most worrying, is insecurity.”
The constant deterioration of security in Haiti
Only 28% of health services are functioning normally in Haiti, almost 5 million people suffer from acute food insecurity, there are at least 700,000 displaced people (more than half children) and security does not improve.
The Haitian Prime Minister, Garry Conille, recognizes it: “In the 100 days of this government, we have not yet seen important results (…) Especially in terms of security, but we have already laid the foundations. We have taken the time to design the national security strategy with the Police, the Army, the municipal security councils and the population.”
In view of this, the expert William O’Neill considers “crucial to suffocate the gangs by providing the Multinational Security Support Mission with the necessary means to be effective in supporting the operations of the Haitian National Police and applying the other measures provided for by the United Nations Security Council, in particular the sanctions regime and the selective arms embargo.”
Conille, for his part, assures that his government will not back down: “I have no doubt that together we will be able to restore security. We will help the displaced to return to their homes. We will reactivate our economy. We will make the necessary changes in our Constitution. And, finally, we will hold elections next year and there will be a new government on February 7, 2026.”
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
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