Multi-agency teams in Haiti staged an operation in a slum in Port-au-Prince on Monday and recovered a high-calibre weapon.
Officials said there were fatalities on the side of criminal gangs that had planned an attack on the Kenscoff area.
The Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission MSS Force Commander Godfrey Otunge said distress calls from residents of Kenscoff reporting imminent gang attacks prompted a swift response from the team.
“Several gang members were arrested while others were killed. A high-calibre firearm along with a communication radio were recovered during the operation,” Otunge said.
Otunge said the mission was entering a critical and decisive phase, requiring contributions and support from all stakeholders.
He also issued a stern warning to key gang leaders, stating that their days were numbered.
Over the past three weeks, the MSS and the
Haitian National Police (PNH) have conducted multiple joint security operations
to dismantle gangs.
Operations in areas like Thomassin have led to the arrest of
several gang members, with some sustaining fatal injuries during
confrontations.
The MSS Mission, headquartered in Port-au-Prince, is an international operation led by Kenya and authorised by the United Nations Security Council to assist the Haiti National Police in restoring peace, law and order amid threats of criminal gangs and violence.
There are now 600 Kenyan police officers in Haiti.
There are currently also police and military
officers from Jamaica and soldiers from The Bahamas, Belize, Guatemala
and El Salvador.
Their presence boosts the total number of foreign security personnel to just under 800.
Last year, Haiti saw a record number of neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas fall to armed gangs, despite the presence of foreign forces and a new US-backed transition government.
As the gangs took over neighbourhoods and carried out some of the worst massacres in recent memory, they also deepened the country’s humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands more Haitians were forced to flee their homes.
The United Nations said more than 5,600 people were killed by gang violence
last year, an increase over the previous two years, and over one million Haitians
are now displaced.
Kenya promised 1,000 police officers as part of its offer to lead the mission.