AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It's been two months since Kenyan police arrived in Haiti with a mission to help restore order in the Caribbean nation. The officers are part of a U.N.-backed effort to bolster the beleaguered Haitian police, fighting armed gangs that control large swaths of the country. Haiti was plunged into its current round of chaos following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise three years ago. Joining us now is Widlore Merancourt, the editor-in-chief of the Haitian news site AyiboPost. He's also a contributor to the Washington Post and is currently in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Welcome to the program.
WIDLORE MERANCOURT: Thanks for having me.
RASCOE: How have the Kenyan police performed?
MERANCOURT: OK. We are in the wake of the Kenyans coming to Haiti with people having high hopes that they would help fight back against the gangs. We are observing today in Haiti a slight amelioration of the insecurity situation in some neighborhoods, including where I am right now, which is about 10 minutes from the national palace. We have less gunshots as we used to. However, these hopes now seems to fade. Eighty percent of the capital is still under the control of the gangs. They are still kidnapping people like they used to, and they become even more brazen because they also try to attack other places that they did not attack before.
RASCOE: Can you tell us more about that? Because we have seen reports that some of the gangs have fled the capital and are now attacking other areas? What can you tell us about that?
MERANCOURT: Absolutely. As the Kenyan force is settling, they are complaining about the lack of equipment and also the fact that they don't have the main power to take over the gangs that are fighting and, you know, disturbing Port-au-Prince, but also other places. For instance, we saw reports of multiple gang members killed in the south. These people would come from other places and install themselves in the small communities and start to do the same things that the gangs do in Port-au-Prince - they attack people, sexually abuse women and kill people with absolute impunity. In this case, particularly, the Haitian national police conducted an operation locally with the population and many of these gang members were killed.
RASCOE: You said that the high hopes of the Kenyan police - that kind of honeymoon is over. How is the public feeling right now?
MERANCOURT: Well, it is important to note that half of Haiti today is facing hunger, that only 24% of hospitals are functioning normally. It is very important to note that about 600,000 people are displaced today by gang violence. If you go on the internet, all over social media, we are seeing criticisms that these Kenyans are here. Maybe, you know, they are here for vacation, to take advantage of the beautiful sun and sky of Haiti, but they are not doing enough or they are not doing anything to fight against the gangs. And we are also seeing increasingly some politicians announcing protests against the current administration because of the lack of effectiveness against the gang situation today.
RASCOE: What do you think it will take to achieve a long-term security solution in Haiti?
MERANCOURT: Well, the situation today is not just an insecurity problem. We also have a presidential council with seven members. They have voting power, and these people come from different political parties. Many of them actually want to participate in the next election. This presidential council is marred by accusations of corruption. We have a prime minister who has, you know, a very difficult relationship with the presidential council. So t he first thing would be to create some harmony. Secondly, there need to be investment. If you talk to security expert, they tell you, this force doesn't have, for instance, air capacity. They don't have helicopters. They don't have the proper equipment that are necessary to fight against gangs that are increasingly seeing weakness from the international community today.
RASCOE: That's Widlore Merancourt, the editor-in-chief of AyiboPost. Thank you so much for being with us.
MERANCOURT: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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