The UN has finally sent a force to Haiti to restore calm, but experts worry it won't have any more success than previous foreign interventions in an impoverished nation.

A year ago, Haitian officials begged for help combating armed gangs ravaging the Caribbean nation -- just one of the challenges facing the poorest nation in the Americas, whose political, economic, and health systems are also in tatters.

According to Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia, the multinational Mission, led by Kenya, could be a relief for people living in cities like Port-au-Prince, a city plagued by violence.

"I am somewhat skeptical about the mission's ultimate success," he told AFP. "If you don't resolve the political issues, anything short-term will surely fail."

It could take months for the Kenyan-led multinational mission to deploy to Haiti, which was approved by the UN Security Council on Monday.

Although Nairobi has promised 1,000 police officers, details -- including the number of boots on the ground -- have not been finalized.

In Fatton's view, 2,000 is a "limited force" when facing the possibility of guerilla warfare on an urban battlefield in a foreign country.

From 2004 to 2017, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah) deployed about 10,000 Blue Helmets.

In 2010, a devastating earthquake that killed some 200,000 people wiped out the progress it had made to rid Port-au-Prince of gangs.

Despite accusations of sexual abuse and a cholera epidemic brought in by Nepalese peacekeepers, Minustah never won Haiti's trust.

As the former French slave colony struggles to get back on its feet, gangs have flourished, murdering and kidnapping young Haitians with no prospects.

The Carrefour Feuilles Commune in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was evacuated earlier this year due to gang violence.

Earlier this year, Residents evacuated the Carrefour Feuilles commune in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, amid gang violence. 

Kenyan police will not be able to defeat Haitian gangs on their own turf, says Emiliano Kipkorir Tonui, who has overseen the deployment of Kenyan troops overseas.

A former soldier, now a member of Nairobi-based NGO Kenya Veterans for Peace, told AFP that policemen lack military training in map reading, communication, and handling weapons like machine guns.

It's a long game.

Not to mention the language and cultural barriers.

As a result of previous interventions such as Minustah, Haitians will need "Creole-speaking advisers" to help them engage the public, warned Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group.

"Getting detailed intelligence on gang networks is one of the biggest challenges," Gowan said.

Human rights activists point out that accusations of violence by the Kenyan police are unlikely to help.

According to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, the mission must "learn from past mistakes" as a result of the Security Council resolution.

Leaving too soon is one of them.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said, "It's a long game."

Since 2016, no elections have been held, and the legitimacy of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, appointed by Jovenel Moise just before he was assassinated in 2021, has been questioned.

According to experts, a free election must accompany the mission.

Fatton said Haiti's political opposition groups are wary.

Ariel Henry's grip on power will be strengthened if those troops do get to Haiti, he said.

Keith Mines of the US Institute for Peace warns the reluctant international community not to view Haiti as a "lost cause."

In the last two decades alone, Haiti has seen the ousting of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, the wreckage of the 2010 quake, the cholera epidemic, and Moise's assassination -- and that's before you even dive into the country's long history of French colonization, slavery, and revolution.

"Everything has been a disaster," Mines said. "There have been some bad assumptions and an unhelpful understanding of what has worked and what hasn't."