Haiti Police Push Into Kenscoff as Kidnapping Fear Grips Port-au-Prince
Key Facts
Haiti’s gangs have pushed from the capital into the farming hills of Kenscoff, leaving a trail of massacres. A new police operation there has given the local mayor a glimmer of hope, Le Nouvelliste reported.
Haiti’s National Police began operations in Kenscoff on the evening of 16 September and continued them through 17 September. Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s oldest daily, cited Mayor Massillon Jean as saying police had made advances on the ground.
Why It Matters Beyond Haiti
Kenscoff is a hillside farming commune above Port-au-Prince, long seen as relatively safe. Gangs have attacked it since January 2025, according to Le Nouvelliste.
In late August 2026, an attack blamed on the Viv Ansanm gang coalition killed at least 47 people, Africanews reported. More than 50 people were kidnapped in that attack, and 25 homes were set on fire.
At least five of the 47 dead were children, and armed groups control about 70 percent of the capital, Africanews said. The United States has designated Viv Ansanm a foreign terrorist organisation, the same report noted.
AP reported on 17 September that rights group RNDDH counted at least 164 dead and over 70 kidnapped in Kenscoff. Its report accused police commanders of passivity and said security in the area had been cut by 60 percent.
What the Mayor Says
In a separate Le Nouvelliste report, Jean said police and residents had reached several areas held by armed gangs for 21 months. He also said he had no figures on the results of the operations carried out on 16 and 17 September.
After the August attack, Jean told Africanews that gangs had killed many people in their homes. “We are just farmers,” 17-year-old resident Kenson Paul told the outlet.
On 16 September, police chief Vladimir Paraison urged officers to use force lawfully, only when necessary and proportionately. He spoke at a workshop with Haiti’s armed forces and the Gang Suppression Force on human rights and humanitarian law.
What the Rights Report Found
RNDDH, the National Human Rights Defense Network, said a January 2025 attack had already left at least 139 dead or missing. Victims counted in its new report include about 24 people aged 65 to 90, 36 women and seven children, AP reported.
A school principal was beheaded, and two pastors were among the dead, according to the report. It says gangs used surveillance drones to track police and blocked roads with tree trunks hours before the killing began.
Soldiers and special police units sent after the 2025 attack were later recalled for reasons the report could not establish. An armoured vehicle was withdrawn for lack of personnel a week before the August massacre, the group said.
It called the lack of response especially worrying because available information pointed to a serious and imminent threat. A Haitian police spokesperson did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment on the findings.
Fear in the Capital
A second Le Nouvelliste piece, by Roberson Alphonse, describes rising dread over kidnappings across Port-au-Prince. The article lists schoolchildren seized in Silo, Delmas 33, and a doctor taken with his wife and child in Bourdon.
It also mentions a well-known journalist and three children seized on Friday on their way to school. Juno7 reported that at least five pupils were abducted in Bois-Verna on 18 September, three from one family.
Armed men in a vehicle seized them near Lalue, two weeks into the new school year, the outlet said. On 9 September, two schoolgirls and their driver were abducted in Delmas 75, Juno7 added.
In Bois-Verna, the kidnappers also took the driver, and protesters blocked Dufort and Camélo streets, Le Nouvelliste reported. The journalist is Wesly Renaud Jean of Radio Métropole, seized in Delmas 31 and held for nearly 12 days by 17 September.
The Haitian Journalists Association and the culture and communication ministry have both demanded his release. Police had not given details of any rescue effort when Juno7 published its report.
The Wider Toll
Some 1.5 million Haitians, including 751,000 children, were internally displaced as of 20 August, Security Council Report said. About 5.8 million people faced acute food insecurity in the first half of 2026, the same report said.
UN figures cited by Al Jazeera show 1,408 people killed and 656 injured between April and June 2026. About 200,000 people were forcibly returned to Haiti from January to August 2026, the network added.
A World Bank report puts farm production lost to gang violence from 2018 to 2025 at about 8 percent of 2025 GDP. Le Nouvelliste, citing the bank, put the loss at about US$2.6 billion, against 2025 GDP of US$32.8 billion.
The International Force
UN Security Council Resolution 2793 authorised the Gang Suppression Force on 30 September 2025, capped at 5,550 personnel. Security Council Report said 1,083 military personnel had deployed by 8 July 2026.
The same report said the force began operations on 1 June 2026 but has worked at limited capacity. It expects full operational readiness between October and the end of 2026.
Kenya‘s personnel left in April, and contributors now include Chad, Jamaica, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. The United States and Panama, which lead Council drafting on Haiti, are expected to seek re-authorisation.
Its mandate expires on 30 September, and Haiti’s foreign minister has called for renewal, Al Jazeera reported. At an OAS meeting on 4 September, Foreign Minister Raina Forbin asked for support “up to the challenge.”
“We must now move from solidarity to action,” she told the regional body. Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé has governed alone since the transitional presidential council dissolved in February 2026.
Le Nouvelliste reported that he has left for the UN General Assembly in New York. Haiti plans elections on 13 December 2026, its first in a decade.
What It Means If You Follow Haiti
For governments and donors, the 30 September deadline decides whether the only international force keeps its legal mandate. For election watchers, security in places like Kenscoff will shape whether voting can go ahead on 13 December.
For Haitians abroad, the kidnappings of pupils, a doctor and a journalist show how daily movement in the capital has narrowed. For Kenscoff residents, the test is whether police can hold retaken ground, which the rights report says failed before.
What Is Not Yet Known
Le Nouvelliste has not reported arrests, casualties or seizures from the Kenscoff operation. It is not clear whether the international force took part or whether police will hold the ground.
It is not known whether Wesly Renaud Jean and the pupils seized in Bois-Verna have been freed. It is not yet known whether the Security Council will renew the force’s mandate before it expires.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the Kenscoff operation matter?
Kenscoff has suffered repeated gang massacres since January 2025, with a rights group counting at least 164 dead. Holding it would show whether police can reverse gang expansion beyond the capital.
Where is Kenscoff?
It is a farming commune in the hills above Port-au-Prince. Gangs have attacked it repeatedly since January 2025.
Who has been kidnapped in Port-au-Prince recently?
Reports list schoolchildren in Delmas and Bois-Verna, a doctor with his family and Radio Métropole journalist Wesly Renaud Jean. At least five pupils were seized on 18 September alone.
What is the Gang Suppression Force?
It is an international anti-gang force authorised by the UN Security Council in September 2025. Its current mandate expires on 30 September 2026.
Sources: Le Nouvelliste, PNH steps up operations in Kenscoff, Le Nouvelliste, police retake territory in Kenscoff, Le Nouvelliste, mayor has no tally of operations, Le Nouvelliste, police chief on lawful use of force, Le Nouvelliste, Port-au-Prince, la peur arpente les heures, Le Nouvelliste, protest in Bois-Verna, Le Nouvelliste, journalists demand Wesly Renaud Jean’s release, Le Nouvelliste, ministry condemns journalist’s kidnapping, Le Nouvelliste, farm losses from gang violence, Le Nouvelliste, prime minister leaves for UN General Assembly, Africanews, gangs storm Kenscoff, AP via MyMotherLode, RNDDH report on Kenscoff, Juno7, pupils abducted in Bois-Verna, Security Council Report, Haiti September 2026 forecast, Al Jazeera, Haiti calls for renewal of anti-gang force
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