Latest news with #combatants
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send hundreds of fighters to strife-torn Haiti
Hundreds of combatants from the US, Europe and El Salvador will reportedly be deployed to Haiti in the coming weeks to battle the country's gangs as part of a mission led by the controversial Blackwater founder and Donald Trump backer Erik Prince. According to Reuters, Prince's new security firm, Vectus Global – which has been operating in the violence-ravaged Caribbean country since March – is preparing to intensify its activities there to help authorities win key roads and territories back from heavily armed criminal groups. 'One key measure of success for me will be when you can drive from Port-au-Prince to [the northern city of] Cap-Haïtien in a thin-skinned [non-armoured] vehicle and not be stopped by gangs,' Prince, who said he had struck a 10-year deal with Haiti's government, told the news agency. Under the agreement, Vectus will reportedly be given a role in Haiti's tax-collection system. Haiti's capital has been largely cut off from the rest of the country since February 2024, when armed groups launched a joint offensive against the government, toppling the prime minister and commandeering virtually the whole city. According to the UN, more than 1,500 people were killed between April and July, mostly in Port-au-Prince. The majority were killed during security force operations and a third in drone strikes, which the government has started using to target armed groups. A source familiar with Vectus's Haiti operations told Reuters its deployment would include snipers, intelligence and communications specialists, helicopters and boats. The use of private military contractors to fight Haitian crime groups has caused alarm among human rights advocates and observers, even if the security situation has become so dire that many Haitians have been calling for some form of foreign intervention. 'People are desperate for solutions, for help, for anything … People are willing to accept things they wouldn't have been willing to accept not that long ago because of the desperation,' said Jake Johnston, the author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti. 'I can understand the level of trauma and desperation. But is this really a solution?' Johnston asked, predicting Vectus's operation was unlikely to go well. Johnson called the deployment another example of Haitian problems being 'outsourced' to foreigners instead of strengthening Haitian institutions such as the police. 'What kind of a message does [this use of private contractors] send to … domestic forces that are underresourced and feeling like they are not supported?' Romain Le Cour, the head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, called the move 'a severe institutional setback' to Haitian police and the UN-backed security force sent there last year. Le Cour believed deploying foreign contractors would 'deepen the strategic isolation' of Haiti's police and the Kenya-led policing mission as they tried to regain control. Prince's group – which uses the slogan 'we don't just advise, we act' – has been working in Haiti since March. According to Reuters, it has been deploying drones in coordination with a taskforce led by the prime minister. '[But] after six months of deployment, gangs continue to hold strategic dominance,' Le Cour pointed out. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post If you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform. Finally, our guide at lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send hundreds of fighters to strife-torn Haiti
Hundreds of combatants from the US, Europe and El Salvador will reportedly be deployed to Haiti in the coming weeks to battle the country's gangs as part of a mission led by the controversial Blackwater founder and Donald Trump backer Erik Prince. According to Reuters, Prince's new security firm, Vectus Global – which has been operating in the violence-ravaged Caribbean country since March – is preparing to intensify its activities there to help authorities win key roads and territories back from heavily armed criminal groups. 'One key measure of success for me will be when you can drive from Port-au-Prince to [the northern city of] Cap-Haïtien in a thin-skinned [non-armoured] vehicle and not be stopped by gangs,' Prince, who said he had struck a 10-year deal with Haiti's government, told the news agency. Under the agreement, Vectus will reportedly be given a role in Haiti's tax-collection system. Haiti's capital has been largely cut off from the rest of the country since February 2024, when armed groups launched a joint offensive against the government, toppling the prime minister and commandeering virtually the whole city. According to the UN, more than 1,500 people were killed between April and July, mostly in Port-au-Prince. The majority were killed during security force operations and a third in drone strikes, which the government has started using to target armed groups. A source familiar with Vectus's Haiti operations told Reuters its deployment would include snipers, intelligence and communications specialists, helicopters and boats. The use of private military contractors to fight Haitian crime groups has caused alarm among human rights advocates and observers, even if the security situation has become so dire that many Haitians have been calling for some form of foreign intervention. Related: 'The ground shook': drone attacks help Haitian government wrest control of capital from criminal gangs 'People are desperate for solutions, for help, for anything … People are willing to accept things they wouldn't have been willing to accept not that long ago because of the desperation,' said Jake Johnston, the author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti. 'I can understand the level of trauma and desperation. But is this really a solution?' Johnston asked, predicting Vectus's operation was unlikely to go well. Johnson called the deployment another example of Haitian problems being 'outsourced' to foreigners instead of strengthening Haitian institutions such as the police. 'What kind of a message does [this use of private contractors] send to … domestic forces that are underresourced and feeling like they are not supported?' Romain Le Cour, the head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, called the move 'a severe institutional setback' to Haitian police and the UN-backed security force sent there last year. Le Cour believed deploying foreign contractors would 'deepen the strategic isolation' of Haiti's police and the Kenya-led policing mission as they tried to regain control. Prince's group – which uses the slogan 'we don't just advise, we act' – has been working in Haiti since March. According to Reuters, it has been deploying drones in coordination with a taskforce led by the prime minister. '[But] after six months of deployment, gangs continue to hold strategic dominance,' Le Cour pointed out. Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send hundreds of contractors to strife-ravaged Haiti
Hundreds of combatants from the US, Europe and El Salvador will reportedly be deployed to Haiti in the coming weeks to battle the country's gangs as part of a mission led by the controversial Blackwater founder and Donald Trump backer Erik Prince. According to Reuters, Prince's new security firm, Vectus Global – which has been operating in the violence-ravaged Caribbean country since March – is preparing to intensify its activities there to help authorities win key roads and territories back from heavily armed criminal groups. 'One key measure of success for me will be when you can drive from Port-au-Prince to [the northern city of] Cap-Haïtien in a thin-skinned [non-armoured] vehicle and not be stopped by gangs,' Prince, who said he had struck a 10-year deal with Haiti's government, told the news agency. Under the agreement, Vectus will reportedly be given a role in Haiti's tax-collection system. Haiti's capital has been largely cut off from the rest of the country since February 2024, when armed groups launched a joint offensive against the government, toppling the prime minister and commandeering virtually the whole city. According to the UN, more than 1,500 people were killed between April and July, mostly in Port-au-Prince. The majority were killed during security force operations and a third in drone strikes, which the government has started using to target armed groups. A source familiar with Vectus's Haiti operations told Reuters its deployment would include snipers, intelligence and communications specialists, helicopters, and boats. The use of private military contractors to fight Haitian crime groups has caused alarm among human rights advocates and observers, even if the security situation has become so dire that many Haitians have been calling for some form of foreign intervention. 'People are desperate for solutions, for help, for anything … People are willing to accept things they wouldn't have been willing to accept not that long ago because of the desperation,' said Jake Johnston, the author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti. 'I can understand the level of trauma and desperation. But is this really a solution?' Johnston asked, predicting Vectus's operation was unlikely to go well. Johnson called the deployment another example of Haitian problems being 'outsourced' to foreigners instead of strengthening Haitian institutions such as the police. 'What kind of a message does [this use of private contractors] send to … domestic forces that are under-resourced and feeling like they are not supported?' Romain Le Cour, the head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, called the move 'a severe institutional setback' to Haitian police and the UN-backed security force sent there last year. Le Cour believed deploying foreign contractors would 'deepen the strategic isolation' of Haiti's police and the Kenya-led policing mission as they tried to regain control. Prince's group – which uses the slogan 'we don't just advise, we act' – has been working in Haiti since March. According to Reuters, it has been deploying drones in coordination with a taskforce led by the prime minister. '[But] after six months of deployment, gangs continue to hold strategic dominance,' Le Cour pointed out.
Washington Post
26-07-2025
- Washington Post
In Syria's Sweida, the stench of death still lingers days after sectarian bloodshed
SWEIDA, Syria — The stench of decaying bodies hangs heavy in the streets of the provincial capital in Syria's southern province of Sweida, where fighting recently erupted. Once bustling roads now lie eerily silent, with only a few people passing by. In some areas, the destruction is overwhelming, with buildings and cars charred black.
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Fighters at unsanctioned events could expose themselves to criminal charges, says lawyer
New Zealand MMA fighter Dan 'Hangman' Hooker is promoter of 'King of the Streets'. Photo: PHOTOSPORT A sports lawyer says participants in an underground street fighting competition could be exposing themselves to criminal charges. The King of the Streets event - which has received the backing of New Zealand UFC fighter Dan "Hangman" Hooker - was held over the weekend in a suburban backyard of an Auckland property, with 32 combatants and no weight limits. Fighters competed for a prize of $50,000 with Hooker later confirming all participants would receive $1000 through TheDoctor, an online streaming, gambling and give-away website linked to the event. Last week, police said they were assessing the event against existing legislation. Former AUT law lecturer Craig Dickson told RNZ if the event was unsanctioned, it could be "problematic" around issues of consent. "If you're going on to the field under those rules then there is a certain level of consent given that people can assault you," he said. "But you then get to a position where there are actions outside of those rules that you can't be seen to be consenting to. Once you get far enough outside the rules, then clearly that still qualifies as a criminal assault." Mixed martial arts is not considered under the Boxing and Wrestling Act 1981 that stipulates both amateur and professional fights require a police permit. "There is a level of violence and bodily injury resulting that is so severe that your consent will be ineffective because public policy would say the public wont allow assaults over a certain level," Dickson said. He said in the scenario of a fighter being seriously injured, or killed, there were legal grounds for charges under the Crimes Act. "I don't think there's any question about that. Particularly if it's an unsanctioned event and whatever that rule base is, if you're far enough outside whatever that rule base might be, then you squarely land on assault to injure territory. "If we're talking about an unsanctioned event that doesn't fall under any of the [necessary] parameters, then it's hard to see how that's greatly different to anybody conducting a similar assault on the street on a Friday night." The governing body for mixed martial arts is calling for the government to urgently regulate popular combat sporting codes. President of the New Zealand Mixed Martial Arts Federation (NZMMAF) president Terry Hill told Checkpoint the event was not the first amateur event held on these shores. Hill said there was no legal framework in place that administered amateur events such as the King of the Street event held at the weekend. "The basic requirement's you need is referees, qualified judges, and medical staff. By all accounts there [were] at that event," he said. "There was a very good referee, they did have three judges apparently, and there were medics checking the fighters afterwards." Unlike other countries, New Zealand did not have a combat sports commission regulating amateur events, Hill said. "The Boxing and Wrestling Act is just completely irrelevant to what you're looking at today. And there are real health and safety issues about it," he said. Although the event was billed as an amateur event, the winner of the King of the Street tournament was a professional, Hill said. "The regulations are very loose and hazy and they need to be tightened and it's the government that needs to enforce that, through sport, through policing etcetera. Otherwise people can just do what they want." Despite the event being unregulated, reports from the weekend's fighting had been positive, Hill said. "By all accounts, everyone was very well behaved and there were no problems or incidents at all. "But it's certainly intimidating to everybody else who isn't involved in it, and that's what the promoters want. It's shock entertainment." Hill said there were reports on social media that nine different gangs were represented at the event. "Good on them for not losing control and getting out of hand, but the potential for it is huge." Hill said he was making enquiries after hearing that the $50,000 prize was not awarded in cash, but rather cryptocurrency, "Something needs to be done for combat sports in New Zealand. In 2019 you had three corporate boxers die in a 12-month period, not good enough. "If three All Blacks had died playing rugby then there would've been a huge inquiry."
