Nairobi — The National Police Service officers deployed as part of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti have intensified their patrols in major towns across Haiti in efforts to pacify the conflict-prone region.
Superintendent of Police Edwin Kolil says these patrols will continue to ensure peace and allow Haitians to return to their homes.
"The members of the public in this country, they are very good, they interract with us everyday, and they give us information concerning the movement of each and every gang. And we get that information we react promptly to maake sure that we push them aware and we make sure that they stay safe," he said.
The NPS officers, in collaboration with their colleagues from the National Haitian Police, have been conducting both ground and aerial surveillance using drone technology to monitor the security situation and ensure that the gangs, who have been terrorizing Haitians, do not access these areas.
Kenyan police officers began patrolling Port-au-Prince six months ago as part of a UN-backed mission to battle armed gangs that who control 80 percent of the capital.
Several hundred Kenyan police officers have been deployed to the Caribbean nation.
Since February 2024, the surge of violence led by "Viv Ansam," a type of gang coalition, has claimed the lives of over 5,000 people. Furthermore, more than 2,000 women and girls have suffered sexual violence under a regime of terror that has isolated the capital city and blocked access to rural areas.
World Vision warns this protracted insecurity and hunger crisis is deepening hunger and malnutrition, in a country where more than 5 million Haitians face food insecurity, according to the UN.
The UN's migration agency said there were now 108 severely overcrowded displacement sites in Port-au-Prince for such families, up from 73 a year ago. They include schools, churches and even government ministry buildings which have been occupied by destitute Haitians unsure when - or even if - they will be able to return home. The number of displaced people has tripled over the last year from about 315,000 in December 2023 to 1.04 million now.
