(2026-05) Key Developments and Humanitarian Impact of the Insecurity in the Artibonite, Centre, and Ouest Departments, April 2025 to April 2026
Summary — This ACAPS thematic report analyses developments in armed violence and their humanitarian consequences in Haiti's Artibonite, Centre, and Ouest departments between April 2025 and April 2026. Gang expansion beyond Port-au-Prince, growing self-defence group activity, drone operations by a private military contractor, and the arrival of the UN-mandated Gang Suppression Force drove a 40 percent rise in displacement to nearly 1.5 million IDPs. The report details resulting needs across protection, education, food security, health, and WASH, with 3.1 million people in the three departments requiring food assistance at the start of 2026.
Key Findings
- Displacement rose 40 percent between December 2024 and December 2025, from 1.04 million to nearly 1.5 million IDPs, with new displacement shifting toward rural Artibonite (up 77 percent) and Centre (up 140 percent) rather than Port-au-Prince.
- The Viv Ansanm coalition, with an estimated 12,000-20,000 members, controls about 90 percent of Port-au-Prince and escalated its expansion into Centre and Artibonite throughout 2025, while self-defence groups grew more organised and lethal.
- Drone operations by a Prime Minister's Office task force involving a private military firm killed at least 43 civilian adults and 17 children across 141 documented strikes in Ouest between March 2025 and January 2026.
- The UN-authorised Gang Suppression Force of up to 5,500 personnel, replacing the roughly 1,000-strong MSS mission, is expected to be fully operational by mid-2026 and is likely to intensify armed confrontations.
- Humanitarian needs are concentrated in the three departments: 3.1 million people need food assistance, 3.6 million health services, and 1.4 million protection assistance, with gangs identified as perpetrators in 75 percent of reported GBV cases.
Full Description
ACAPS reviews the period April 2025 to April 2026, during which the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, estimated at 12,000-20,000 members, consolidated near-total control of Port-au-Prince (about 90 percent of the metropolitan area) and accelerated its expansion into Centre and Artibonite departments. Counter-forces multiplied over the same period: increasingly organised self-defence groups descended from the Bwa Kale movement, a Prime Minister's Office task force using explosive-laden drones operated with a private military firm, and the Gang Suppression Force (GSF), a UN-authorised, primarily military force of up to 5,500 personnel replacing the Multinational Security Support mission, with an advance contingent of roughly 400 Chadian troops deployed by April 2026. Displacement rose 40 percent in a year, from 1.04 million to nearly 1.5 million IDPs, with Centre recording a 140 percent increase and Artibonite 77 percent, indicating a shift of new displacement toward rural departments. The report is compiled from ACLED and IOM data covering 2023-2026 and over 30 humanitarian, think-tank, and media sources.
The impact analysis documents escalating multi-sector needs: 1.4 million people needing protection assistance in the three departments (63 percent of the national caseload), catastrophic levels of gender-based violence with gangs identified as perpetrators in 75 percent of reported cases, and Human Rights Watch documentation of drone strikes in 141 operations killing at least 43 civilian adults and 17 children. Around one million children require assistance to access education after at least 1,600 school closures affecting some 243,000 students. In food security, 3.1 million people in the three departments require assistance, with 1.9 million nationally projected in IPC Phase 4 during the February-June 2026 lean season as gang blockades cut supply corridors and seize production zones in Artibonite's rice basket. ACAPS anticipates intensified confrontations in 2026 as the GSF becomes fully operational, with attendant risks of civilian casualties and further militia-isation of self-defence groups.
Notes
ACAPS thematic/anticipatory analysis