More to serve in UN-backed mission to fight violent gangs

(16 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Port au Prince, Haiti - 16 July 2024
1. Various of place arriving at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince
2. Kenyan police delegation take position to receive the 200 police officer that are arriving
3. Various of the delegation waiting for the new Kenyan police
4. Kenyan police officers exiting plane
5. Various of Kenyan police leaving the plane
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Godfrey Otunge, Kenyan officer, Commander of the mission:
“We count on your support. The Haitian national police are already working with the contingent and we continue to realize the fruit of our joint efforts that are geared towards (inaudible) in Haiti. We will bring stability and become an economic powerhouse.”
7. New arrivals greeting Otunge and Haitian Police Chief Normil Rameau
8. SOUNDBITE (Haitian Creole) Normil Rameau, Haitian Police:
“I came this morning to receive the second contingent of Kenyan Police... I come to support the national police to fight against armed gangs in the country. In the name of the government, we give them a warm welcome.”
9. Kenyan police being greeted
10. Various of Kenyan police at airport tarmac
11. Various of police chanting, dancing and singing across airport tarmac
12. Police preparing to leave area
STORYLINE:
Another 200 police officers from Kenya arrived Tuesday in Haiti for a U.N.-backed mission led by the East African country to battle violent gangs that have taken over parts of the troubled Caribbean country.
The officers arrived nearly a month after the first contingent of 200 landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, where gangs control at least 80% of the city.
Last week the United Nations Security Council strongly condemned “the extreme levels of armed violence” in Haiti that are undermining security in the country and the region.
Authorities have declined to provide details on the Kenyans’ assignments, citing security concerns.
Associated Press journalists have seen them on patrol in areas near the main international airport, which reopened in May after a surge in gang violence forced it to close for nearly three months.
“We are happy to work side-by-side with the Kenyans,” Normil Rameau, the new chief of Haiti's National Police, said shortly after they arrived. “In the name of the government, we give them a warm welcome.”
More Kenyans are expected to arrive in coming weeks and months and will be joined by police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica for a total of 2,500 personnel.
They will be deployed in phases at a cost of some $600 million a year, according to the U.N. Security Council.
The Kenyan-led mission is meant to bolster Haiti’s National Police, which remains understaffed and underfunded, with only about 10-thousand officers active at a time in a country of more than 11 million people.
The mission also aims to quell gangs accused of killing more than 4,450 people last year and injuring another 1,668, according to the U.N, more than double compared with the previous year. More than 1,500 people were killed or injured in the first three months of this year.
While some Haitians have welcomed the Kenyans' arrival, others remain wary.
AP Video by Pierre R. Luxama.
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[@WalterThompson-rt7jm]

Africans are finally helping it’s people out side the continent 😍😍😍✊🏽✊🏽💪🏾

[@lajoiemorisson457]

4

[@darrellyoung7477]

❤Bring peace to Haiti Unite Unite!!!

[@PossyFenelson]

Uf6hgig bbn gdkvkgkeke

[@amoskirui267]

May you come back alive my elder bro just because of your wife,no kids yet😢😢😢

[@SaidIssa-tq3yv]

Safi sana ondoa huyo barbeque. Sawazisha kabisa huyo mafia.

[@JaneKamau-n5h]

I sense in my spirit that God is doing something in kenya

[@Kelekdental]

Mungu awa linde ndugu zetu, and kindly don't shoot civilians.

[@JathlyneRobinson]

SALUTE The Haitian government 😢

[@72marshflower15]

Only if you don’t know what’s happening there.

[@darrellyoung7477]

❤

[@darrellyoung7477]

❤Bring peace to Haiti Unite Unite!!!

[@rufusmwangi9128]

Mbogi nare all the best

[@belindajepleting2528]

Bora pesa 😂 Sisi tuko ndani, our friends from haiti I have said we must deal with barbecue 😊

[@MakendatLouis]

Nap vin mouri

[@diocletian607]

I would hope they are being WELCOMED and ASSISTED and SUPPORTED by the populace. Because if they are not, then whats the point.

[@jumjumfumigation]

No doubt. I have followed everything ever since they stepped foot and I can comfortably say our men in uniform are on the right track. Haitian are good pple

[@dildofaggins731]

Research the history of Haiti and see how it's perpetually used as a colony and you might see how they would be resistant and resentful towards foreign influence

[@bbalderston125]

​@@jumjumfumigationCrush the gangs.

[@jumjumfumigation]

@@bbalderston125 we shall brother. Haiti and Kenya are All Blacks

[@JohnOkonda-fg4wp]

🇰🇪✝️🇰🇪✝️🇰🇪💪💪🙌💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@PedroZapata-dj1uf]

Pues este país está yeno de altiano puez pues la frontera estan yena militares y cada dia al mas imlegales

[@MunyanezaM]

pb