Kenya has deployed 217 more police officers to assist combat security crisis in Haiti which UN Special Representative for Haiti María Isabel Salvador said remains “immense.”
Salvador while addressing the security council said that the Kenyan police sent was an advance team of 5 women. In addition, 150 Guatemalans and an advance team of eight Salvadorean troops have also been deployed.
She added that the challenges faced by the HNP remain immense, with high attrition rates, insufficient specialized training, and a lack of equipment while calling enhanced international assistance.
The worsening security crisis is said to have significantly impacted United Nations operations. In response to the suspension of flights to Port-au-Prince and widespread violence, the UN decided to temporarily reduce its footprint in the capital, while continuing to provide lifesaving assistance.
The transition framework is said to remains fragile though with little progress. The increasing fragmentation of the political sectors represented on the Transitional Presidential Council, combined with persistent criticism of this Council, complicates the process she said.”
She stressed, “Over 6 million people – nearly half the population – require humanitarian assistance, with 3.9 million targeted for aid. The number of internally displaced persons has tripled to over 1 million, with more than half being children.
Displacement sites are overcrowded and lack essential services such as clean water, sanitation, and education. Food insecurity affects 48 per cent of the population.”
Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ghada Fathi Waly, said the ongoing violence and instability is compounded by illicit arms flows, drug trafficking, and other illicit markets, and underpinned by corruption and money laundering.
She also said, “Haiti needs stronger capacities to register, control, and trace firearms and ammunition, including seized weapons and private stockpiles, as well as to collect, request, and analyse firearms seizure data.
And maritime and land border control on the Haiti-Dominican Republic border need to be enhanced with equipment, human resources, and improved information sharing. In addition, stronger controls are needed for ships departing Florida for Haiti, but also for the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, which traffickers are now using as transit destinations.
