PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A Haitian neighborhood recently controlled by violent gangs is now secure after an increased presence of U.N. troops in the region.
The United Nations, which recently extended a peacekeeping mandate in Haiti, has been working with local police on countering armed gangs and transnational criminal groups that are destabilizing the impoverished Caribbean nation, the United Nations reported.
Officials say the volatile Cite Soleil neighborhood in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince recently was overrun with gang violence. MINUSTAH, the U.N. mission in Haiti, working with local authorities and with funding from the United States as part of the Haitian Stabilization Initiative, has forced the gangs out and brought security back to the neighborhood.
"MINUSTAH's presence has permitted us to re-establish security," Rosemond Aristide, Haitian police inspector, said in a statement.
"Now the population of Cite Soleil can pursue their normal occupations."
