As part of a United Nations-backed effort to combat armed gangs that have taken over the capital, newly deployed Kenyan police officers started patrolling the city on Friday. Haitian Prime Minister, Garry Conille, left Port-au-Prince to travel to Washington and New York.

According to Conille’s office, Justice Minister Carlos Hercule will serve as acting prime minister on Conille’s behalf while he travels alongside Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy, Finance Minister Ketleen Florestal, and Chief of Staff Nesmy Manigat.

“The delegation will have important work meetings with officials from international financial institutions, among others. It will also inspect Haiti’s embassy in Washington,” the office said, without giving further details.

Conille and Jon Finer, the deputy national security advisor, will meet on Monday, according to a spokesman for the US National Security Council. The UN has approved the deployment of an international security force headed by Kenya to assist Haiti’s police in combating armed gangs that have caused a humanitarian crisis in the nation. The U.S. is the power behind this force financially.

The first Kenyan police deployment arrived this week after Haiti’s former government requested the force in 2022. The arrival date of the remaining force, which is scheduled to total over 2,500 officers, is unknown.

Residents in Port-au-Prince expressed hope that the armed Kenyan police in khaki uniforms, complete with bulletproof jackets and helmets, would put an end to the senseless killings and allow commerce to resume as they patrolled the city in black armoured vans.

“We need peace. If the Kenyan police forces are here, it’s so we can return to the lives we used to have. We hope they’ve come to work seriously,” said resident Kloud Dine.

“We need the Kenyans here a while here because the gang members make us suffer too much,” added Louise Baret, a painter. “Enough is enough.”

Residents in Port-au-Prince expressed hope that the armed Kenyan police in khaki uniforms, complete with bulletproof jackets and helmets, would put an end to the senseless killings and allow commerce to resume as they patrolled the city in black armoured vans.

Gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier rallied armed men in a video posted on social media on Wednesday. He told them to open fire on Kenyan police and threatened to fight to the death, saying, “I don’t care if they are white or black.” He declared, “They’re invaders if they’re not Haitian and they’re on Haitian territory.”

Because of the violence, more than 500,000 people have left their homes, and about half of the population is hungry.

The ambassador of Somalia to the UN on Monday charged the Ethiopian military with breaking the law by crossing their common border illegally and engaging in combat with local security forces.

As part of an African Union peacekeeping mission (ATMIS),
at least 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers are stationed in the Horn of Africa nation, where they are engaged in combat with al Shabaab, an Islamist organization that holds significant territory in Somalia.

According to a bilateral agreement, an additional 5,000–7,000 Ethiopian soldiers are stationed in various areas.

Ethiopia’s army and Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, according to Somalia’s U.N. ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman, the country was forced to postpone the next withdrawal of ATMIS troops from July to September.

ATMIS is committed to withdrawing by Dec. 31, when a new, smaller force is expected to replace it. Some local elders in the Hiraan region of Somalia reported that a contingent of Ethiopian soldiers entered the region on Saturday to monitor threats from al Shabaab.

With 5,000 of the approximately 18,500 troops leaving last year, the reduction is ongoing, and the government has expressed confidence in its ability to hold the line against al Shabaab. It has stated that the new force should be confined to securing major population centres and should not number more than 10,000.

The agreement by landlocked Ethiopia to lease 20 km (12 miles) of coastline from Somaliland, a region of Somalia that claims independence and has had effective autonomy since 1991 but has failed to earn international recognition, caused relations between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa to plunge earlier this year.

In exchange for being permitted to establish a naval base and commercial port in Somaliland—a move that Mogadishu has denounced as illegal—Ethiopia gave Somaliland the possibility of recognition.