Two female Rwandan police officers working as peacekeepers in Haiti have been found dead in their home, the UN mission said today, with Kigali saying they were shot dead.
In a statement, the UN's 2,600-strong MINUSTAH mission said they were found dead in their quarters in Cap Haitien, Haiti's second city, without saying how they died, nor giving their nationality.
But Kigali confirmed both were Rwandan and said they had been shot dead on the evening of December 29.
"The Rwanda National Police regrets to announce the death of two police peacekeepers," a statement from the force said.
Lillian Mukansonera and Aimee Nyiramudakemwa were "shot and killed at their residence in Cap Haitien by unidentified assailants" it said of the city which lies in the north of the country.
Police from 45 countries serve in the UN force.
A joint investigation has been launched by the UN force, Haiti's national police and Rwandan officers, who work together to enforce law and order in the troubled country, the UN mission and Rwandan police said.
MINUSTAH was deployed to Haiti in 2004 after the fall of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide plunged the poorest country in the Americas into political crisis.
Its numbers have ebbed and flowed but it was reinforced after the January 2010 earthquake that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and killed more than 200,000 Haitians and 102 UN staff.
Today, MINUSTAH counts 2,370 "Blue Helmet" military peacekeepers, 2,600 international police and around 1,500 civilian workers, both expatriates and Haitians.
