Haiti: The Haitian Armed Forces (Fad'H) Restored – An Historic Perspective

For many years, Haiti had no army (FAD’H). Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1991; 1994-1996; 2001-2004) disbanded the FAD’H in 1994 as it had committed gross human rights violations in the past and had been centrally involved in the coup against him in September 1991. Sixteen years later, when he became president in 2011, Michel Martelly (2011-2016) proposed re-creating the Haitian army in order to replace the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force in Haiti, the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), within a few years. These plans have since picked up speed under Martelly’s successor and protegé Jovenel Moïse. Here we look more closely at these developments.