Haiti, long the poorest country in the Western hemisphere with a legacy of slavery, foreign occupation and dictatorships, has experienced an escalation in gang violence since 2021, when its last president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated.
Ariel Henry took power as prime minister but declined to hold elections amid a deteriorating security situation.
The capital Port-au-Prince has been cut off from maritime and air routes while alliances of gangs - heavily armed with weapons largely trafficked from the United States - have cemented their control.
According to UN estimates, more than one person was killed every hour in the first three months of this year. There are also widespread reports of gangs using mass sexual violence, ransom kidnappings and torture to extort the population.
The conflict has spread to farmlands outside the capital, worsening food shortages that have plunged nearly half the population into acute hunger, with several parts of the country close to famine levels. Hospitals are facing shortages of supplies and public services have largely collapsed.
Henry, who many Haitians see as corrupt, pledged to step down last month while stranded abroad after traveling to Kenya seeking to fast-track security support.
He is succeeded in the interim by his finance minister, Michel Patrick Boisvert, while the transition council, which has been mandated to support the U.N.-backed mission's quick deployment and pave the way for elections, appoints a replacement and a new government.
Why the delay to the international force?Henry first requested an urgent international force to support Haitian police in October 2022 and the UN ratified this a year later. Kenya pledged to lead the force.
But six months on the force has yet to deploy and time is fast running out on its initial one-year mandate.
The initiative became tied up in legal challenges in Kenya and Nairobi said in March after Henry resigned that it was putting the deployment on pause and would re-evaluate once a new government was in place.
What happens now?Haiti's transition council was formally installed on April 25, after delays over disagreements on who would sit on it. Though the council has been installed, it must still appoint a prime minister, a council president and a cabinet.
Kenyan President William Ruto said in response that Kenya stands 'ready and willing' together with African and Caribbean counterparts to 'rapidly execute the security support infrastructure envisaged.'
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While many Haitians hope the mission could help restore much-needed security, others are wary after previous missions left behind slain civilians, a cholera epidemic and a sexual abuse scandal, for which reparations were never made.
Who will be in the mission to Haiti?Seven countries have formalised their intent to contribute personnel to the mission. The largest known contributor is Benin, which pledged 1,500 'seasoned soldiers' and said this could be increased to 2,000 within six months.
