UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations traveled to Haiti on Monday to meet with leaders of the new transitional government and Kenyan police, who are the vanguard of a U.N.-backed force aimed at helping the country’s national police to contain widespread gangs. violence.
A senior US administration official said Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s one-day visit also seeks to encourage action on Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and political reform leading to democratic elections in 2026.
The ambassador will make two important announcements related to from Haiti security and humanitarian crises, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the visit.
The gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021, and are now estimated to control up to 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have spread into the surrounding areas. The rise in murders, rapes and abductions has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.
There has been broad international support for the new transitional government led by Prime Minister Garry Conille, a former UN development expert who arrived in the country in early June. Earlier this month, he told the UN Security Council that Kenyan police will be crucial in helping to control the country’s gangs and moving towards democratic elections.
According to UN agencies, the violence has displaced 580,000 people, more than half of whom are children, and caused 4 million people to face food insecurity.
In a sign of support for the UN mission in Haiti and the Kenyan police, Thomas-Greenfield will visit the police force’s residential complex and meet Conille, members of the presidential transition council and representatives from the UN and civil society.
Haiti has called for an international force to combat gangs in 2022, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for months for one country to lead the force before the Kenyans stepped forward.
A second Kenyan contingent More than 200 police officers arrived in Haiti last week, following the first contingent of 200 police officers last month. The multinational force will eventually total 2,500 personnel from Kenya, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica. They will be implemented in phases, at a cost of around $600 million per year, according to the UN Security Council.
The U.S. has provided more than $300 million to the force, which Thomas-Greenfield helped establish through a U.N. resolution, the official said, adding that the ambassador played a “central role” in securing international pledges of funding, equipment and logistical support.
Kenyan police will train Haitian national police for joint security operations that have not yet begun, the official said.
___
