Kenyan police officers have begun patrolling the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
Equipped with body armour and automatic weapons, the Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti in June to help fight escalating gang violence.
In Haiti, criminal gangs control almost 80% of the capital, a situation responsible for displacing 580,000 individuals.
The presence of the Kenyan police officers drew attention, but they did not encounter any confrontations with gangs.
Haiti’s Prime Minister, Garry Conille, was grateful for the Multinational Security Support Mission and stressed the need to tackle gang violence.
“Haiti is currently at a critical point with 12,000 armed individuals holding a population of 12 million hostage,” said Conille.
“The deployment of the first contingent of police officers alongside Haitian law enforcement agencies should help put a stop to the barbarity of criminal groups,” added Connille.
According to reports, the Haitian police will soon be reinforced by police and military personnel from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad, and Jamaica, bringing the total number of personnel to 2,500.
María Isabel Salvador, the leader of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, emphasised the importance of this mission in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2699, providing a ray of hope to the Haitian people.
