Haiti requests foreign soldiers after president’s assassination

Haiti requests foreign troops after president's assassination
Large crowds surrounded the Pétion-Ville Police station in Port-au-Prince where the men have been detained. Source: Getty Images
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Daily US Times: Haiti has asked for foreign soldiers 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 United States and the United Nations, but the US says it has no plans to offer military assistance “at this time”.

Police in Haiti earlier said a group of 28 foreign mercenaries, including 2 Haitian-Americans, killed the president on Wednesday.

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

Some of the group, which according to Haiti 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 in the gun battle, and eight others are still being sought.

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

The UN Security Council would have to approve any plan to send foreign soldiers to Haiti under UN auspices.

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

Bruised and bloodied, arrested suspects were shown to the media on Thursday, along with a slew of seized weapons.

It is not yet clear who organised the attack and with what motive.

The attack took place in the early hours on 7 July, when gunmen broke into Mr Moïse’s home, shooting him dead and wounding his wife.

You may read: Foreign hit squad killed Haiti’s president, police say