The United States called on other countries to share the financial burden in fighting criminal governance and lawless chaos in Haiti, highlighting the funding struggles facing an international security support mission.
On April 21, US Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea urged other countries to “contribute their fair share” to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, which has sent troops from multiple nations to support Haiti’s national police against the country’s powerful gangs.
“America cannot continue shouldering such a significant financial burden,” Shea said.
In recent years, gangs’ control in the country has spread, leaving thousands displaced and destitute. Gangs have used rape and sexual violence to terrorize women and girls, and weak democratic institutions and widespread corruption have hindered efforts to restore order.
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The United States has pledged over $300 million to support the MSS mission, led by Kenya. In 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $100 million in foreign assistance for the MSS and $100 million in Department of Defense (DOD) funds. In March 2024, the DOD commitment was increased to $200 million.
Fifteen million dollars of that $300 million was destined for a UN trust fund to finance the multinational force in Haiti, $1.7 million of which has already been spent. The remaining $13.3 million was frozen in February, after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day freeze on foreign aid upon taking office.
A brief analysis of the potential impacts of the funding freeze, published on the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Relief Web platform on February 21, concluded: “The suspension of US assistance will have severe implications for Haiti.”
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Despite the United States’ contributions, the MSS has been hamstrung by a lack of funds since it began, and Haiti remains in dire need of international support to combat the country’s criminal groups and restore order.
The first Kenyan troops arrived in Haiti in June 2024 to support the national police. Ten months later, less than 1,000 of the promised 2,5000 multinational troops are in the country. Aside from the US funds, the mission relies primarily on voluntary donations from other countries, including Canada, France, Spain, Italy, and Algeria. As of January, however, the mission has received only about $100 million of the estimated $600 million needed per year, leaving both the troops understaffed and badly equipped.
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The MSS mission has done little to halt the gangs’ expansion of their power. The gangs now control over 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas, according to the latest UN estimate. Commercial flights to Port-au-Prince have been suspended since November 2024, and the gangs control nearly all the roads into the city. This expansion has triggered record-breaking violence, with more than 60,000 people forcibly displaced in the last month, according to the International Organization for Migration, which reports that displacement tripled last year to surpass one million. These numbers are expected to rise, especially given the US funding freeze.
“It’s really a symbolic admission that this was a waste of time and money. The MSS has never had a real impact on the balance of power between the government and the gangs,” said Louis-Henri Mars, the executive director of Lakou Lapè peacebuilding organization based in Port-au-Prince.
Despite the blow from the 90-day freeze on foreign aid, experts are not concerned that the United States will withdraw funding from Haiti entirely.
“I don’t think they will drop the support,” said Pierre Esperance, executive director of the Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH). “But if they do that, it will be a disaster for Haiti.”
The United States is Haiti’s main humanitarian aid donor, and provided about 65% ($190.6 million) of the total $295.5 million donated to Haiti’s 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP). Of the $300 million that the United States has pledged to the MSS mission, $285 million is managed through the US State Department and the Department of Defense and remains unfrozen.
Still, the crisis in Haiti desperately needs more funds. In 2024, Haiti received less than half of the $673.8 million that OCHA calculated the country needed that year. For 2025, OCHA reports that Haiti needs $908.2 million, 34% more than 2024. And military funding will not solve the country’s security problems — much less its health, food, and labor shortages — on its own.
“It has to be a holistic approach. It cannot be just, ‘let’s kill a few gang leaders and then things will have changed.’ No. You kill a gang leader today, there’s going to be a replacement in the next 24 hours,” said Mars. What the country needs, he added, are investments that strengthen its economic and political structures for the long term.
Featured image: Two Kenyan soldiers on patrol in Haiti as part of the MSS mission. Credit: Arnold Junior Pierre, The Haitian Times.