Haiti's prime minister orders gangs to drop weapons and promises to take back control of the capital

Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille ordered gangs to surrender their weapons during a televised speech late Wednesday in which he acknowledged how dangerous life in Haiti’s capital and beyond has become and pledged to crack down on the rampant violence.

Conille spoke a day after a second group of 200 Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti to help quell widespread gang violence as part of a U.N.-backed mission led by the East African country.

“Life every day in Port-au-Prince has turned into a battle for survival,” he said. “Many innocent people have lost their lives.”

Gangs control 80% of Port-au-Prince, and they have been blamed for killing or injuring more than 1,500 people in the first three months of the year alone.

Earlier Wednesday, Associated Press journalists observed a line of armored vehicles roll down the main boulevard in downtown Port-au-Prince, one of the capital’s more dangerous areas, as a crowd of Haitians gathered quietly to observe, arms on their hips.

The vehicles carried Kenyan and Haitian police as they fanned out across the downtown area. Several shots rang out, but it wasn’t clear who fired and if anyone was injured or killed.

“Drop your weapons and recognize the authority of the state,” Conille said in a message to gangs.

In late February, gangs launched coordinated attacks targeting key state infrastructure. They seized control of more than two dozen police stations; opened fire on the main international airport, forcing it to close for nearly three months; and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

The violence led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry in late April and the installation of a transitional presidential council and Conille as the new prime minister.

Diego Da Rin, with the International Crisis Group, noted that gang violence began diminishing in late May, with the first contingent of Kenyans arriving in late June.

He noted that so far, Kenyans appeared to have limited their patrols to neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince that have not been seized by gangs.

“There really hasn’t been any offensive operations,” he said.

In upcoming months, the Kenyans will be joined by police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica for a total of 2,500 personnel.

Conille said restoring security is a top priority for him but warned it would take time. He said the objective is to recapture all gang-controlled territory “house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood, community by community.”

“We need to free Haiti from all sorts of gangs that are killing and raping the population,” Conille said.

Gang violence also has left more than half a million people homeless in recent years as rival gangs fight for control of more territory. More than half of those displaced are women and girls, with many living in crowded and unsanitary makeshift camps and shelters.

On Wednesday, the U.N. noted that rape is being used in most camps as a deliberate tactic to control women’s access to scarce humanitarian aid.

Sima Bahous, executive director of U.N. women, urged Haiti’s newly appointed government to prevent and respond to such violence.

“The level of insecurity and brutality, including sexual violence, that women are facing at the hands of gangs in Haiti is unprecedented,” she said in a statement. “It must stop now.”

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.