UN-backed contingent of foreign police arrives in Haiti as Kenya-led force prepares to face gangs

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The first United Nations-backed contingent of foreign police arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, nearly two years after the troubled Caribbean country urgently requested help to quell a surge in gang violence.

A couple hundred police officers from Kenya landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, whose main international airport reopened in late May after gang violence forced it to close for nearly three months.

It wasn't immediately known what the Kenyans' first assignment would be, but they will face violent gangs that control 80% of Haiti's capital and have left more than 580,000 people across the country homeless as they pillage neighbourhoods in their quest to control more territory. Gangs also have killed several thousand people in recent years.

The Kenyans' arrival marks the fourth major foreign military intervention in Haiti. While some Haitians welcome their arrival, others view the force with caution, given that the previous intervention — the UN's 2004-2017 peacekeeping mission — was marred by allegations of sexual assault and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people.

Romain Le Cour, senior expert at Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, called on the international community and government officials to share details including the mission's rules of engagement and concept of operation.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti issued a brief statement welcoming the Kenyans' arrival: “It is a crucial step in the fight to restore security in the Haitian capital and its surroundings and protect the rights of Haitians.”

The Kenyans' deployment comes nearly four months after gangs launched coordinated attacks targeting key government infrastructure in Haiti's capital and beyond. They seized control of more than two dozen police stations, fired on the main international airport and stormed Haiti's two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

“We've been asking for security for the longest time,” said Orgline Bossicot, a 47-year-old mother of two who sells carrots and charcoal as a wholesale distributor.

Gang violence has stymied her sales, and she tries to stay out as late as possible before sundown to make up for the losses despite being afraid.

“You don't know who's waiting for you around the corner. We are a target,” she said, adding that she is hopeful about the Kenyan police joining forces with local authorities. “It would be a great step forward for me, for Haiti and for a lot of people.”

Critics say the coordinated gang attacks that began February 29 could have been prevented if the foreign force had been deployed sooner, but multiple setbacks including a legal challenge filed in Kenya and political upheaval in Haiti delayed its arrival.

The coordinated attacks achieved their objective: preventing then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to Haiti. At the time, he was in Kenya to push for the deployment of the force, but he resigned in late April amid the surge in gang violence.

Since then, a nine-member transitional presidential council was formed. It chose former UN official Garry Conille as prime minister May 28 and appointed a new Cabinet in mid-June.

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