Chad has committed to deploy 750 police officers and gendarmes in the latest effort to push back the violent gangs that have permeated much of Haiti. The officers will be part of a new Gang Suppression Force (GSF), proposed by Panama and the U.S. and approved by the UN Security Council last September. It replaces a multinational security mission led by Kenya, which has been on the ground since June 2024 but made little progress in thwarting the gangs. Chadian contingents are expected to start arriving by early April, to be followed by personnel from other African and Latin American countries.

Haitian authorities have invested high hopes in the new force, which will differ in several ways from its predecessor. While the Kenyan-led mission depended on voluntary contributions that fell short of what it needed, the GSF will mostly be funded from the regular UN budget. And whereas the previous mission was never able to reach full capacity, the new force already has enough troop pledges to fill its 5,500 vacancies. Crucially, the GSF also has a more offensive mandate than the previous mission, and is authorised to conduct operations alongside Haitian security forces as well as on its own. 

Chad for its part has a long history of participating in foreign security interventions. It provided a large chunk of personnel to the UN mission in Mali, which sought among other things to protect civilians from violent militants in the country’s north and was one of the deadliest operations for blue helmets in UN history (the mission closed in 2023). N’Djamena also was a key cog in an initiative by Lake Chad basin countries to lead a counteroffensive against Boko Haram militants. Chadian units earmarked for deployment in Haiti will bring with them useful skills, being experienced, combat-ready and mostly French-speaking. However, urban operations and the associated risks of causing harm to civilians may pose challenges for forces more accustomed to desert fighting. 

Some members of civil society in N’Djamena have questioned the timing of the Haitian deployment, which comes amid ongoing cross-border attacks along Chad’s eastern border, linked to spillover from war in Sudan. But the decision appears in part driven by political and diplomatic motives. By joining the Haiti mission, Chad’s government could help reboot its military cooperation with the U.S., the leading power behind the GSF, after a couple of years of worsening bilateral ties. Relations soured in 2024, when N’Djamena requested the withdrawal of U.S. troops. But the two capitals reopened a diplomatic channel this year, with two visits by the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) to N’Djamena. 

Haiti, meanwhile, finds itself in something of a lull. After a new government was installed on 7 February, gangs have scaled back their attacks, though they still control most of the capital and are likely assessing their next moves. Despite the expectations surrounding the GSF, it remains to be seen whether the new force will enable the Haitian state to break the gang stranglehold, or prove another false dawn.