As chaos rules, who can help Haiti?

Haiti is again at the precipice of national collapse. A state of emergency has been imposed, following fears that the Haitian National Police will be overwhelmed by violent gang lords before a long-planned multinational mission led by Kenya arrives.

“The government could fall at any time,” a U.S. official told Mcclatchy.

If the collapse occurs, the impact will be felt not just in Haiti but also in the United States, where some 731,000 Haitians live. Our country is filled with families now in serious fear for their loved ones’ safety in what has become almost a lawless land. Our country is also a likely destination should a mass exodus occur.

It’s been 14 months since the U.S. began pushing for a United Nations solution to the increasingly fraught situation in Haiti. Kenya agreed to send 1,000 police officers to control the violent gangs, but the plan hit snag after snag. Now a solution is even more difficult to craft. Can police officers really restore order in a country?

On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council met to address the violence and escalating gang rule. The meeting unfolded as the U.S. met with Haitian stakeholders in the hope of finding a consensus on implementing a system to carry out democratic elections.

In play is a proposal that would remove Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been in charge of governing the country since the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.

Oddly enough, the U.S., Caribbean leaders and violent gangs all want Henry gone, a strange alliance.

Meanwhile, in Haiti’s capital of Portau-prince, armed gangs are in control, the airport has been seized, prisons have been emptied by gangs, and innocent lives are lost daily.

It’s heartbreaking to see the seemingly never-ending suffering of the Haitian people. After enduring so many years of oppression, military dictatorships, natural disasters and now raging gang warfare, the citizens of Haiti deserve a break.

But their country continues to be failed by weak governments, political instability and a lack of security. Fundamental rights such as safety, stability and justice remain a distant dream.

The international community must do more to help resolve Haiti’s political crisis and restore law and order.

But many Haitians want a Haitian-based solution, not foreign intervention. They want civil society to take the leadership in stopping violence, bringing security to the population and building a pathway for free and fair elections.

The U.S. remains caught in a Catch-22. Help and be viewed as imperialist; don’t help and watch things get worse.

Ultimately, long-term solutions require addressing the roots of poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity, which fuel instability.

The Haitian people deserve the chance at a peaceful and prosperous future they have been denied for far too long.