Kenyan police force arrives in Haiti for UN-backed security mission
The first wave of Kenyan police disembarked a plane at the Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti on Tuesday as part of a UN-backed security mission to defeat the powerful gangs ravaging the island nation.
Issued on: 25/06/2024 -
Police from Kenya arrive at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
© Odelyn Joseph, AP
By: FRANCE 24
The officers are expected to lead a mission to tackle raging gangland violence convulsing the Caribbean nation, which has suffered a prolonged period of instability amid a severe humanitarian crisis.
Kenyan police streamed out of the plane at the capital’s airport as a small crowd, mostly airport personnel, greeted them on the tarmac.
Kenya volunteered in last July to lead an international force to stem the latest wave of violence to afflict Haiti, where gangs control most of the capital Port-au-Prince while carrying out widespread killings, kidnappings and sexual violence.
The officers are expected to lead a mission to tackle raging gangland violence convulsing the Caribbean nation, which has suffered a prolonged period of instability amid a severe humanitarian crisis.
Kenyan police streamed out of the plane at the capital’s airport as a small crowd, mostly airport personnel, greeted them on the tarmac.
Kenya volunteered in last July to lead an international force to stem the latest wave of violence to afflict Haiti, where gangs control most of the capital Port-au-Prince while carrying out widespread killings, kidnappings and sexual violence.
But the deployment has been repeatedly delayed by court challenges and a deterioration of the security situation in the Caribbean country, which in March forced its former prime minister to resign.
The Kenyans will be joined by police from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica for a total of 2,500 officers that will be deployed in phases for an annual cost of some $600 million, according to the UN Security Council.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP)
Port-au-Prince (AFP) – Suffering from gunshot wounds to the leg and buttocks, 31-year-old Olivier Vilminio sought treatment in a hospital in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
Issued on: 25/06/2024 -
Over half a million Haitians have been displaced by rampant gang violence
© ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP/File
But even there, he was not safe from a surge of gang violence that has upended life in the impoverished Caribbean nation and made medical care even more difficult to attain.
Armed gang members raided the hospital, forcing Vilminio to flee, he told AFP recently from a school where he and other displaced people now reside.
Needing crutches to walk, the father of two young daughters said his wounds have left him in constant pain.
"I've run out of medication. The painkiller I should be taking is (the powerful opioid) tramadol, and it's extremely expensive, 750 Haitian gourdes a pack," he said, or around $6.5.
He said he hoped to possibly get antibiotics from Alima, an NGO operating mobile medical units that was visiting the school-turned-refuge that morning.
After years of gaining ground across Haiti's capital, gangs launched a wave of coordinated attacks in late February calling for then prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.
He announced in early March that he would step down and hand executive power to a transitional council responsible for leading the country toward elections. No vote has been held in Haiti since 2016.
But even there, he was not safe from a surge of gang violence that has upended life in the impoverished Caribbean nation and made medical care even more difficult to attain.
Armed gang members raided the hospital, forcing Vilminio to flee, he told AFP recently from a school where he and other displaced people now reside.
Needing crutches to walk, the father of two young daughters said his wounds have left him in constant pain.
"I've run out of medication. The painkiller I should be taking is (the powerful opioid) tramadol, and it's extremely expensive, 750 Haitian gourdes a pack," he said, or around $6.5.
He said he hoped to possibly get antibiotics from Alima, an NGO operating mobile medical units that was visiting the school-turned-refuge that morning.
After years of gaining ground across Haiti's capital, gangs launched a wave of coordinated attacks in late February calling for then prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.
He announced in early March that he would step down and hand executive power to a transitional council responsible for leading the country toward elections. No vote has been held in Haiti since 2016.
Vilsaint Lindor says gang members robbed him at home before shooting him
© ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP/File
A new prime minister and cabinet have since taken office, but their task of restoring order in the nation of 10 million is monumental.
A new prime minister and cabinet have since taken office, but their task of restoring order in the nation of 10 million is monumental.
No power, money for X-rays
Gangs control most of the sprawling capital and have repeatedly attacked hospitals and clinics, making off with much-needed medical supplies.
The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday that about 580,000 Haitians have now fled their homes due to gang violence, a 60 percent spike since March.
Another gunshot victim at the center is Marie Joanne Laguerre, 24, who took a stray bullet to the back of her head while standing outside the school.
"At first, I thought I'd been hit by a stone," she told AFP.
Haiti's sprawling capital is largely controlled by gangs who have outgunned the national police
© ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP
Three months later, she still has not been able to get an X-ray.
"I went to the hospital and they bandaged me up, they gave me medicine" but not an X-ray, she said, as there was a power outage that day.
"Now I have no money to do it. I still don't know what's inside my head."
The hospitals that remain open in Haiti are struggling to stay afloat, frequently facing shortages of fuel for their generators and other materials.
Jean Philippe Lerbourg, medical director of Hopital La Paix, told AFP he considers his establishment "lucky" to have all its services remain open.
But since February the hospital has been "under pressure," taking in patients from other locations that have been forced to close, the doctor said.
Hospitals over capacity
"We exceeded our capacity a long time ago," Lerbourg said, adding that budget constraints have forced the hospital -- a public facility -- to charge patients for medical equipment.
"We try to do as much as possible to give free emergency care... but once emergency care is over, if you come in for surgery, you don't pay the surgeon, but all the materials you'll need, you're going to have to buy," he said.
For most Haitians "the situation is extremely difficult," he said, with many patients displaced from their homes or freshly unemployed.
Marie Joanne Laguerre, a 24-year-old woman in Port-au-Prince, took a stray bullet to the back of her head months ago but has not been able to receive an X-ray
© ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP/File
Lerbourg said his hospital saw a peak in gunshot wound cases on February 29, the day armed gangs launched their concerted attacks.
Sitting on a hospital bed, 40-year-old Vilsaint Lindor has a large bandage wrapped around his waist.
A few days earlier, he was at home and about to take a shower, when a gunman knocked on his door.
The man "asked me to give him everything -- phone, computer, money," Lindor said.
"They took everything and when they couldn't take the inverter, he shot me," he said bitterly.
"I'm just at home, and the gangs come and rob me."
© 2024 AFP
Lerbourg said his hospital saw a peak in gunshot wound cases on February 29, the day armed gangs launched their concerted attacks.
Sitting on a hospital bed, 40-year-old Vilsaint Lindor has a large bandage wrapped around his waist.
A few days earlier, he was at home and about to take a shower, when a gunman knocked on his door.
The man "asked me to give him everything -- phone, computer, money," Lindor said.
"They took everything and when they couldn't take the inverter, he shot me," he said bitterly.
"I'm just at home, and the gangs come and rob me."
© 2024 AFP
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