Haitians hold their breath as newly arrived Kenyan police force prepares to face gangs
Anticipation is mingling with fear across Haiti as the country welcomes the fourth major foreign intervention in its history to fight gang violence
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Anticipation is mingling with fear across Haiti as the country welcomes the fourth major foreign intervention in its history to fight gang violence choking the Caribbean country.
A couple hundred police officers from Kenya met early Wednesday with Prime Minister Garry Conille as they prepare to deploy in upcoming days. No one except high-ranking officials knows their assignment, which officials have said is for security reasons.
Expectations are high: Haitians are scared and tired of gangs that have pillaged their way through the capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, killing, raping and kidnapping thousands of people in recent years and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless and unemployed, which in turn has deepened poverty.
“I’m asking the prime minister and the Kenyans to free Haiti from these gangs,” said Mathurin Jean François, a 30-year-old math teacher who has been unemployed for two years because gang violence forced his school to close. “Many people are suffering.”
