NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 21–The Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti is scaling up joint operations to restore normalcy in the gang-controlled area in the Caribbean nation.
In the latest mission brief, the National Police Service said the MSS team in Haiti and the Haiti National Police (HNP) have conducted security operations in Haiti’s Capital Port Au Prince Downtown, Ganthier, and Delmas, among other areas.
The NPS said that the operations have led to arrest of a number of gang members.
“These joint patrols and operations have led to several arrests of gang members and a return to normalcy in the once gang-ridden areas,” NPS said Friday.
The NPS disclosed that an advance contingent of officers from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) arrived in Haiti under the Command of Colonel Kevron Henry from Jamaica on September 12.
Colonel Henry will deputize Kenya’s Godfrey Otunge who is the head of the mission.
Return to normalcy
On September 3, Kenya’s NPS disclosed that normalcy was resuming in areas surrounding Haiti’s main international airport in the Capital Port Au Prince, three months after the resumption of operations.
The Toussaint-Louverture airport, had been closed on early March after gang violence escalated in the area.
Police Spokesperson Resila Onyango told Capital FM News Tuesday that the MSS had taken over the full control of the airport and pacified the area North of the airport where gangs have been wreaking havoc.
Resila said that the presence of MSS police units has seen an increase in the frequency of commercial, cargo and domestic flights using the facility.
“Before the arrival of MSS, airport North area was a no-go zone but gradually, normalcy is returning after MSS occupied the airport, taking security control and pacifying its environs through sustained operations and patrols,” Resila told Capital FM News.
Haiti has been grappling with a surge in violence since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his private residence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, triggering calls for a security intervention.
