Haiti requests UN, US to send troops amid political crisis

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: The interim government in Haiti has asked for foreign troops to be sent to the country to protect key infrastructure after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

The request was sent by the government to the US and the UN, but the US says it has no plans to offer military assistance “at this time”.

Haitian police earlier said a group of 28 foreign mercenaries killed the president on Wednesday.

After a gun battle in the capital Port-au-Prince, 17 of them were detained.

Some of the group, which Haiti says included retired Colombian soldiers, were held at the house they were using, others after entering Taiwan’s diplomatic compound, the police said.

Three suspects were killed by police, and eight others are still being sought.

Although the US will not offer troops, it said on Friday it was sending FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials to Haiti to help in the investigation.

The UN Security Council would have to approve any plan to send international troops to Haiti under UN auspices.

The 15-member UN Security Council would need to authorise a deployment of UN peacekeepers or police to Haiti. In an interview with a foreign news agency, Haiti’s elections minister Mathias Pierre also confirmed the report.

“We thought that the mercenaries could destroy some infrastructure to create chaos in the country. During a conversation with the US Secretary of State and the UN we made this request,” Pierre said.

The news website, Military.com is also reporting that the US has confirmed that the request.

The killing has triggered some civil unrest in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas. A state of emergency remains in force across the country and it is unclear who is in effective charge of the country’s government.

Related story: Police kill four suspects after assassination of Haiti’s president

Bloodied and bruised, arrested suspects were shown to the media on Thursday, along with a slew of seized weapons. It is still unclear who organised the attack and with what motive.

The attack took place in the early hours on 7 July, when gunmen broke into the president’s home, shooting him dead and wounding his wife. Moïse, 53, was found lying on his back with 12 bullet wounds and a gouged eye, according to the authorities.

Martine Moïse, 47, was seriously wounded and is in a stable condition after being flown to Florida for treatment.

Police said the hit squad included mainly Colombians, along with two Haitian-Americans.

Found in the suspects’ possession were firearms, sets of US dollar bills, the president’s personal chequebook and the server that held surveillance camera footage from his home, Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported.

Taiwan confirmed that 11 of the suspects were arrested after breaking into a courtyard at its compound.

Civilians had joined the search for the gunmen and helped police track down some who were hiding in bushes. The crowd set fire to three of the suspects’ cars.

At the news conference on Thursday, police showed reporters Colombian passports.

“Foreigners came to our country to kill the president,” Charles said, as the suspects sat on the floor behind him in handcuffs.

Colombia’s government has pledged to assist Haiti with its investigation efforts.

Colombian police director, Gen Jorge Luis Vargas, said 17 former Colombian soldiers were thought to be involved.

The US state department, meanwhile, said it could not confirm if any of its citizens had been detained.

However, the US and Canadian media are reporting that one of the dual citizens arrested, James Solages, 35, is from Florida and was a former bodyguard at the Canadian embassy in Haiti.

An investigating judge told local media that Solages and the other US citizen, named as Joseph Vincent, had said they were there as translators for the mercenaries.