On August 20, a letter circulated under the letterhead “Gwoup Rebèl 400 Mawozo.” In it, Wilson Joseph, alias Lanmò San Jou, raises a “white flag,” calls for a truce and requests dialogue under international facilitation. Three days later, during the night of Sunday, August 23, to Monday, August 24, Kenscoff was struck: 47 dead according to BINUH, including at least five children, more than 50 people kidnapped, and dozens of houses burned. A video then showed captives, while a man identifying himself as “Izo 2” addressed the Director General of the National Police by name and announced that he would kill them if one of his men was harmed. The general election, the first in a decade, is scheduled for December 13.

Taken separately, these actions contradict one another. Why call for a truce, then strike? Why kidnap dozens of people and threaten to execute them? They cease to be contradictory once they are read as pieces of the same sequence: negotiation through coercion. The letter seeks an interlocutor. The massacre demonstrates a capacity to cause harm. The hostage-taking restricts the response. A request is made to talk while at the same time setting the balance of power within which that discussion would take place.