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El Salvador joins UN-backed mission on the ground in Haiti to combat gang violence


A soldier participates in an anti-gang operation in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 3, 2025.
A soldier participates in an anti-gang operation in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 3, 2025.

A contingent from El Salvador arrived in Haiti on Tuesday to bolster a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to help fight gangs that killed thousands of people last year and control much of the capital.

The 70 personnel will provide expertise in air support, which Kenyan officials said will be critical for medical evacuations.

The Salvadoreans are the latest to join the mission in recent months.

Additional police officers from Kenya were deployed last month for a total of more than 600 now in Haiti. They have been joined by police, soldiers and other officials from countries including Jamaica and Guatemala.

Gang violence keeps surging across Port-au-Prince and beyond, with gunmen in recent days killing at least 40 people in an upscale community.

People line up to receive food at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 3, 2025.
People line up to receive food at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 3, 2025.

The U.S. and other countries have warned that the Kenya-led mission lacks funding and personnel as they push to transform it into a U.N.-peacekeeping mission.

More than 5,600 people were reported killed last year across Haiti and more than 2,200 others were injured. Gang violence has left more than one million people homeless in recent years, according to the U.N.

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