Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille while speaking at U.N. Security Council said that the arrival of the first Kenyan police officers under a U.N.-backed mission marked a critical stage to restoring security in a country.
“Haiti is currently at a critical point with 12,000 armed individuals holding a population of 12 million hostage.”
“The arrival of the first contingent of the Multinational Security Support kicks off a new era in Haiti,” Conille told diplomats in New York.
Some 200 Kenyan police arrived in Haiti last week as part of the long-delayed mission mandated to help national police fight armed gangs that have taken over most of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince – fueling a humanitarian crisis that has driven nearly 600,000 from their homes and 5 million into severe food insecurity.
A contingent of hundreds of Kenyan police officers landed in Haiti on June 25 to participate in the Multinational Security Support Mission aimed at combating armed criminal gangs and restoring peace in the country.
They will be soon reinforced by police and military personnel from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad, and Jamaica, bringing the total number of personnel to 2,500.
Peoplesmind