2026-02-15

Security conditions are materially deteriorating across Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas despite ongoing police operations and planned international force deployment. Haiti Libre reported on February 15 that kidnappings have been rising for several weeks in the capital with Delmas 19, 31, 33, and 75 particularly affected. Current hostages include a priest, a lawyer, and a judge, indicating that gangs are targeting high-value individuals without concern for professional or religious status. Most alarmingly, video circulating on social media shows Johnson Andre, alias Izo, leader of the 5 Segond gang, openly participating in and financing carnival activities in the Village de Dieu neighborhood with no official government response or law enforcement action. The Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which controls approximately 85 to 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, carried out a new attack in Kenscoff on February 12 killing at least one person and burning several houses. Kenscoff has been characterized as one of the capital's last safe areas, making this February 15, 2026 incursion a significant indicator of expanding gang territorial ambitions. Between July and September 2025 alone, at least 1,247 people were killed and 710 injured, with security force operations responsible for 61 percent of casualties, gang attacks 30 percent, and self-defense groups 9 percent. The overall murder rate in 2025 rose approximately 20 percent compared to 2024, while homicides in Artibonite and Centre departments surged 210 percent with 1,303 victims versus 419 in 2024. Haiti is experiencing a critical security force transition gap that creates vulnerability during the first half of 2026. The Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission has approximately 1,000 personnel, primarily the 735 Kenyan police officers who deployed in multiple contingents through December 2025. Kenya Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'Oei announced that Kenya will begin reducing its deployment after achieving the primary objective of stabilizing the country. The Gang Suppression Force authorized for 5,550 personnel under UN Security Council Resolution 2793 is not expected to begin arriving until April 2026 with full deployment completed by October 2026. This creates a three-to-six-month window during which Haiti's security depends on a drawdown force and a not-yet-deployed replacement. The Haitian National Police has launched operations dubbed San Kanpe aimed at definitively dismantling gangs and clearing national highways, with Secretary of State for Public Security Mario Andresol previously stating that access to National Highways 1 and 2 could be restored by February 7, 2026. Current status of this target remains unconfirmed. Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk assessed that most drone strikes conducted by a PNH task force with US private military contractor support since March 2025 are likely unlawful under international human rights law. These strikes killed at least 547 people including 20 civilians and 11 children between March and September 2025.