More Kenyan soldiers arrive in Haiti to battle gang violence

Another 200 Kenyan police officers shipped out to Haiti as the war for peace on the gang-controlled island continues, according to Kenyan police officials. The additional forces landed on Tuesday in the capital of Port-au-Prince, where gangs control over 80 percent of the city, according to the United Nations. The deployed Kenyan officers have paramilitary training with some in specialty groups like technical units or special urban patrols, for example. The African nation deployed the first batch of officers to Port-au-Prince in June as part of a UN-backed venture with even more expected to arrive in the future. Haitian gang violence displaced over 300,000 children since March, the UN reported.

Are things getting better in Haiti? The country has made recent progress in restoring democracy amid the high levels of violence, according to a July 3 report by UN Envoy Maria Isabel Salvador. Haiti installed a transitional presidential council in April, then an interim prime minister with a new government in June. Salvador also praised the government’s increase in female participation and noted that women lead one-third of the country’s ministries. The appointment of a new director-general of the Haitian National Police has brought new hope to the ongoing fight against gang violence, she added.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in WORLD Magazine for more on the international police forces shipping out to Haiti.