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People fleeing gang violence take shelter at a sports arena, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Reuters

The clock starts ticking on Haiti’s border

The Dominican Republic has suspended all new visas for Haitians, and threatened to close the border with its neighbor entirely by Thursday unless a dispute over water rights is resolved before then.

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Residents of the Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood gather outside a military base demanding help after they had to flee their homes when gangs took over, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in August 2023.

REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo

The country that wants to take on Haiti’s gangs

Who on earth would want to fight the gangs of Haiti?

Kenya, for one.

In early August, the East African nation offered to lead a UN-backed policing mission to corral the gangs that have wreaked havoc on Haiti ever since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021 plunged the Caribbean nation into fresh political and economic chaos.

Several weeks later, a Kenyan security team spent several days in Port-au-Prince, meeting with local officials, UN representatives, and US diplomats to craft a peacekeeping proposal.

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Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks to the media in Harare, on Aug. 27, 2023.

REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

Hard Numbers: Zimbabwe election results, deadly attack in Haiti, British Museum recovery, valuable mug shot, chasing reindeer

52.6: President Emmerson “Crocodile” Mnangagwa claimed victory in Zimbabwe’s recent election with 52.6% of the vote, beating his main rival, Nelson Chamisa, according to official results announced late Saturday. The opposition is refusing to accept the results, claiming widespread voting irregularities.

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Podcast: UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Russia, human rights, & the Security Council presidency

Transcript

Listen: On August 1, the United States will take over the presidency of the United Nations security council.

The GZERO World Podcast heads to the Security Council chamber at the UN headquarters in New York City for a special conversation with US UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

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There is still a Haiti crisis
There is still a Haiti crisis | Quick Take | GZERO Media

There is still a Haiti crisis

Hey everybody. Ian Bremmer here, Quick Take to kick off your week and I want to talk about something that we've really spent almost no time talking about. Neither has the media, but it deserves our attention.

And that is the crisis in Haiti. It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, despite being the wealthiest colony a few centuries ago. Over 50% of the population under the poverty line, and today it is a failed state with no government, no legitimized governance. Instead, the capital city is controlled by criminal gangs, and some of the surrounding countryside as well, has only deteriorated since 2021 when the president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated. Still with all sorts of questions as to exactly who was behind that and how violence has escalated since then. Overwhelming the underfunded police force while the security forces that remain are corrupt and ineffective and largely tied to the gangs themselves.

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Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand discusses China's spy balloons & crisis in Haiti
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand Discusses China's Spy Balloons & Crisis in Haiti | GZERO World

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand discusses China's spy balloons & crisis in Haiti

On GZERO World, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand spoke with Ian Bremmer on two pressing issues for Canada: China's spy balloons and the crisis in Haiti.

Despite a suspected Chinese spy balloon being shot down over the Yukon and the need for Ottawa to have an Indo-Pacific strategy, Anand acknowledges that the world is becoming "increasingly dark" as Canada must keep "eyes wide open" on China.
In terms of Chinese apps, Canada has already banned TikTok on government devices and Anand has extended the same ban to her own children.=

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Is Canada doing enough to help Haiti?
Is Canada doing enough to help Haiti? | GZERO World

Is Canada doing enough to help Haiti?

At their last summit, US President Joe Biden asked Canada's PM Justin Trudeau to send Canadian troops to help restore security in Haiti. But so far, there's no deal — and the country remains stuck in lawlessness.

Canada wants to focus on Haitian-led solutions, Defense Minister Anita Anand tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

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Asylum-seekers board a bus after crossing into Canada from the US in Champlain, New York.

REUTERS/Christinne Muschi

What We’re Watching: Border clampdown, Haiti’s hellish choices

Crackdown at Roxham Road

While the great and the good were celebrating the progressive partnership between Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau at a glamorous Ottawa state dinner with yellowfin tuna and Alberta beef, Mounties were shutting down the irregular border crossing at Roxham Road, south of Montreal.

This delighted Quebec Premier François Legault but came as a shock to the desperate migrants who were en route to the crossing when the news broke. The sad and difficult stories of desperate migrants — fleeing war, crime, poverty, and repression — were not shared at the dinner where Canadians feted Biden. The quid pro quo for Biden’s help was a Canadian agreement to accept 15,000 migrants from the Caribbean and Central America.

Yet, closing the irregular border crossing at Roxham Road will likely have a negligible impact. Even if the move initially slows the influx, smugglers will find other routes — which could be more perilous. In fact, eight migrants died late last week in an attempt to cross the St. Lawrence River from Canada to the US.

One striking thing about the announcement was that nobody got wind of it until the day before. The governments had reached a deal in the spring of 2022 but succeeded in keeping it quiet until the last minute, apparently out of a desire to make sure migrants didn’t make a rush for the border.

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