Of all the ways Haiti could have entered the 2024 American presidential election news cycle, the fates chose perhaps the very worst: a slanderous rumour, given the megaphone by Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Even worse, the responses to the narrative, from both major political sides, failed to even broach the most important current topic about Haiti, which is that the country has been riven by gang violence over the past two years, and is on the brink of collapse. And then, before the dust could settle, the news cycle moved on – predictably – and Haiti slipped right to the back of everyone’s minds.

Never mind that, second only to France, America is the biggest foreign cause of Haiti’s dire plight. Shortly after securing its own independence by a revolutionary war, America came to France’s aid to quell a similar revolution led by slaves in Haiti. And when the slaves, against all odds, secured their independence in 1804, America gave them the cold shoulder for decades.

It wasn’t until 1862 that America, reckoning with the evil of slavery during its own civil war, finally recognised Haiti’s independence. Had it been truly sincere, the gesture should have been heralded brotherly concord between the two nations; as it turned out, however, it had no meaningful impact on America’s attitude towards Haiti.

In the early 1900s, America invaded and occupied Haiti for 19 years, and so thoroughly plundered its financial system that the country was plunged into century-spanning political instability, in which the United States continued to play a very active and, on the whole, deleterious part.

It has continued to the present day, in many different ways. Even the gangs that now terrorise the Haitian people largely use weapons smuggled in from the United States. Haiti, in short, is America’s skunk. Even if the poor Haitians in Springfield had indeed eaten their neighbours’ dogs and cats, the right response from Americans should have incorporated a wee bit of introspection.

For what it’s worth, the American government is seemingly trying to right its wrongs by supporting a multinational security force, led by Kenya, whose mission is to wrest control of Haiti back from the gangs, thereby setting the stage for the election of a new president (the last one was assassinated in 2021) and government.

The Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti (MSS) was approved by the United Nations Security council in October 2023 (the approval was not necessary, but Kenya insisted on getting one to bolster the mission’s international standing); its mandate was unanimously extended by another year in September.

It is significant in several ways, but especially because Kenya, an African country, is leading a mission in America’s backyard, where America itself has been stumped over and over. Kenya pledged to send 1,000 police officers; other countries have pledged an additional 1,900. The first 400 Kenyans arrived in June and July; the remaining 600 are set to join them by the end of November.

So far, the officers have made meaningful, if limited, progress. A New York Times report from early October, for instance, revealed that the airport in Port-au-Prince, the capital, which had been closed due to gang activity, has been reopened. Vendors are back on the streets, “and gangs have also been pushed out of the capital's main public hospital.”

But the mission’s impact is still limited. Just last month, two Filipino sailors were abducted from a cargo shipin Port-au-Prince’s port, which spurred major shipping lines to suspend service to the port for several weeks. Though now reopened, the port is still operating significantly under capacity.

Furthermore, the Kenyan officers are still largely limited to Port-au-Prince – over 80 percent of which remains under gang control – and its peripheries. Much of the rest of the country remains in the grips of gangs, whose total membership, numbering around 15,000, dwarves the mission’s 400 personnel.

Their reign of terror has killed almost 4,000 people so far this year, displaced 700,000, and brought half the country to the brink of starvation. They operate with reckless abandon, raiding villages and towns, raping and killing, and occasionally coming together to grind parts of the country to a halt.

Even more concerningly, more than a year after being approved by the Security Council, the mission remains woefully underfunded and under-equipped. Of its estimated annual budget of US$600 million, only US$85 million has been funded so far. Much of this came from the United States, which has pledged to contribute up to US$300 million; other major pledged donors are yet to pay up.

According to William O’Neil, a United Nations human rights expert who reviewed the mission’s deployment in September, air support and crucial operational equipment, like night vision goggles, have yet to be availed. Basic civilian equipment, such as bulldozers, which are needed to clear roads, are also lacking; as of October, the whole force had only one ancient bulldozer, which kept breaking down.