2024-07-22 16:12:02
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield traveled to Haiti on Monday to meet with leaders of the new transitional government and Kenyan police who are at the forefront of U.N.-backed security forces seeking to help. Stop gang violence.
Thomas-Greenfield’s visit is also aimed at encouraging action on Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and political reforms leading to democratic elections in 2026, according to a U.S. official.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the visit, said the ambassador would make two important statements on the humanitarian and security crisis in Haiti.
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021, the gang has continued to grow in power and is estimated to control up to 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and has spread to surrounding areas. Increases in murders, rapes and kidnappings have triggered violent uprisings by civil vigilante groups.
The new transitional government, led by Prime Minister Gary Conil, a former United Nations development expert, arrived in the country in early June and has received broad support from the international community. Earlier this month, he told the United Nations Security Council that Kenyan police would play a vital role in helping control gangs in the country and move toward democratic elections.
The violence has displaced 580,000 people, more than half of them children, and left 4 million people facing food insecurity, according to the United Nations agency.
In a sign of support from the United Nations Mission in Haiti and Kenyan police, Thomas-Greenfield will visit the complex housing the police force and will meet with Conil, members of the Transitional Presidential Council and representatives of the United Nations and civil society.
Haiti has called for the creation of an international force to fight criminal gangs in 2022, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called within months for a single country to lead the force until Kenyans emerge.
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