Police from Kenya start patrols in Haiti among growing gang violence

On Wednesday, Kenyan police officials were seen walking Port-au-Prince’s streets wearing body armor and automatic firearms. Reacting to a call for help to fight the growing gang violence engulfing Haiti, this organization marks the first U.N.-supported foreign police force in the country.

Arriving in June, the Kenyan officials were stationed close to the international airport where they attracted the interest of observers but ran across no gang clashes. Currently controlling about 80% of the capital, criminal gangs cause over 580,000 people to be relocated recently.

Thanking the Multinational Security Support Mission, Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille underlined the pressing importance of tackling the violence carried out by armed organizations. “Haiti is right now at a critical point with 12,000 armed individuals holding a population of 12 million hostages,” Conille stated.

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Aimed at eradicating violent criminal gangs and bringing peace back into the nation, a team of hundreds of Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti on June 25 to serve the Multinational Security Support Mission. Conille said, “The deployment of the first batch of police personnel alongside Haitian law enforcement forces should assist put a stop to the barbarism of criminal groups,” adding

Police and military men from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad, and Jamaica will shortly be bolstering the Kenyan officials, increasing the overall count of staff to 2,500. Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti María Isabel Salvador underlined the importance of this deployment in compliance with Security Council Resolution 2699, therefore providing a ray of hope for the people of Haiti.