Under assault by gangs in Haiti, a Kenyan-led mission fights back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — An armored vehicle carrying Kenyan police rumbles through Haiti’s capital with a shattered window that a high-caliber bullet failed to penetrate, a permanent sign of violence the officers face almost daily in Port-au-Prince.

The Kenyans, who were deployed to Haiti earlier this year to help quell gang violence, have faced relentless attacks.

On Thursday, gunfire erupted in Port-au-Prince as Kenyan officers repelled heavily armed gangs that run 85% of the city and are fighting to seize full control.

The Kenyans, joined by Haitian officers, crouched behind sandbags and a concrete wall at the former offices of the National Police that authorities were forced to abandon in recent years by encroaching gangs. Bullets whizzed by as police kept their heads down low and returned fire.

“The days are numbered for the gangs,” Godfrey Otunge, commander of the United Nations-backed mission led by Kenya, told The Associated Press. “Either you surrender … or we are coming for you.”

A Kenyan police officer, part of a UN-backed multinational force, takes cover from an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police at a Kenyan police base in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Police face a daunting task. More than 4,500 people have been reported killed in Haiti so far this year, and another 2,060 injured, according to the U.N.

Gang violence also has displaced an estimated 700,000 people in recent years as gunmen burn and pillage communities in a push to control more territory.

A growing number of people have criticized the Kenyan-led mission, noting that police have not seized control of gang strongholds nor arrested any gang leaders.

On patrol in their heavily armored vehicle, one of its windows previously damaged by a bullet strike, police returned fire with smoke rising from their automatic weapons.

The vehicle lumbered past charred cars, makeshift blockades and the body of a person burned to death, the skull poking through a burned tire.

Kenyan police officers, part of a UN-backed multinational force, patrol a zone in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Last week alone, some 42,000 people were left homeless, half of them children, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency.

An estimated six million people, including 3.3 million children, will need humanitarian aid next year, the agency said.

Gang violence worsened last month as the United States and other countries pushed for a U.N. peacekeeping mission, noting that the current Kenyan-led mission lacks resources and funding.