# Haitian and Kenyan Police Launch Major Bel Air Offensive Against Gangs
Haitian forces working with police from Kenya launched a joint operation in Port-au-Prince's Bel Air neighborhood on Aug. 28, 2024, in an effort to push criminal gangs out of one of the capital's roughest districts, Prime Minister Garry Conille said. He announced the operation while visiting a hospital where three Haitian police officers were recovering from injuries sustained in a shootout the day before.
Conille used blunt language to describe the crisis. He said he was tired of seeing police officers shot and of attending their funerals, and urged Haitians to cooperate with police by sharing information. He also warned that the effort would not be quick. The AP report shows a government trying to project momentum while admitting that any meaningful improvement in security will take time.
The scale of the problem is huge. The report says more than 3,200 killings were recorded in Haiti from January to May, while gangs control around 80% of Port-au-Prince and have driven more than half a million people from their homes. Against that backdrop, even a single joint sweep in Bel Air is less a decisive victory than a small test of whether the foreign-backed mission can hold ground.
The Kenya-led mission has begun to build a regional security presence. About 400 foreign police officers had arrived by the time of the AP report, and personnel from Benin, Chad and Jamaica were expected later for a total of 2,500. That mission is supposed to help quash gang violence, but it faces the same risks that have stalled previous efforts: a lack of safe movement, armed groups with deep territorial control and a population exhausted by years of instability.
The report also notes that another female officer was killed on her way to work the same day, reinforcing how widespread the danger is. With more than a dozen bullet holes in her windshield, the killing illustrated that police are still vulnerable even when they are not in direct combat. Haiti's crisis is not confined to one neighborhood or one institution; it touches almost every route in and out of the capital.
Conille's operation may matter less for the ground it immediately clears than for the signal it sends. It says the government and its foreign partners are still willing to contest gang control in the city. But the AP evidence also makes clear that the balance of power remains heavily stacked against them, and that success will depend on whether the mission can keep officers alive long enough to build a sustained presence.
