United Nations peacekeepers launched an operation early Thursday morning in Cité Soleil, an inner-city neighbourhood of the capital Port-au-Prince, to occupy a house that had continually been used by armed gangs to conduct criminal activities and to fire on UN troops patrolling the area.
The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) initiated the operation at 4:30 a.m. to take control of the house from where gangs often shot at peacekeepers, putting the area’s population in danger.
UN blue helmets acted to “increase the presence on the ground” of troops and also to “continue to reinforce the security of Cité Soleil,” MINUSTAH acting spokesperson Sophie Boutaud-de-la-Combe told the UN News Centre.
No UN forces were injured in today’s operations.
Two Jordanian peacekeepers with MINUSTAH were assassinated in Cité Soleil on 17 January 2006 while patrolling a security checkpoint.
MINUSTAH troops now maintain a permanent presence in the neighbourhood that has long been regarded as one of the most violent in the entire Western Hemisphere.
Kilde: www.un.org
