Death from above: Drones take aim at gangs in Haiti

The first "kamikaze" drone killed eight children and three civilian adults at a birthday party. The second reportedly killed four gang members. This is Haiti today: government-sanctioned drone strikes, gang violence and, increasingly, the US government and private US security firms moving in.

Who carried out the drone attack on the Cite Soleil slum on September 20, 2025 is unclear. Was it the local police? Or Vectus Global, led by Erik Prince, the American founder of Blackwater? Or some other security contractor? Vectus Global did not respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera.

What is clear is that Haiti’s current slide into chaos began with President Jovenel Moise’s assassination in 2021. With no functioning parliament at the time, Moise had led mostly by decree. The lack of a clear constitutional successor helped create a power vacuum, filled by violent gangs.

In October 2023, the UN Security Council voted to send a Kenyan-led force to fight the Haitian gangs. Undermanned, they largely failed against gangs heavily armed with weapons trafficked from the US.

Then in early 2024, Haiti’s interim government collapsed under the weight of an offensive by a coalition of gangs known as Viv Ansanm.

And now US security firms have stepped in. According to The New York Times, Vectus Global has a deal with the Haitian government to "conduct lethal operations". Vectus has reportedly carried out drone strikes since March 2025, but hasn’t announced "the death or capture of a single high-value target".

The National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) in Haiti says drones killed "more than 300 gang members" between March and mid-June 2025. The June 12 report by the RNDDH does not address civilian casualties.

On September 30, the UNSC voted to create a bigger, more aggressive force to "neutralise, isolate and deter" gangs. The so-called "gang suppression force" of 5,500 military, police and civilian personnel is more than five times bigger than the current force.

Today, Haitians are forced to endure a war waged against the gangs that occupy their neighbourhoods. But the kamikaze drone offensive has so far failed, according to the RNDDH, with "no area ... permanently reclaimed". In a June 12, 2025 report, the RNDDH also said, "It must be recognised that these [drone] operations remain ineffective to date."