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A first deployment of Kenyan police officers will depart for Haiti as early as Tuesday, marking the beginning of a long-stalled international task force intended to wrest control of the Caribbean country from violent gangs.
Kenya had volunteered to lead the UN-authorised operation, known as the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti (MSS), last July, with 1,000 officers. But the rollout has been delayed by legal obstacles in the east African nation amid political and humanitarian crises in Haiti.
Kenyan President William Ruto addressed 400 departing officers, clad in military fatigues and white helmets, at a flagging-off ceremony in Nairobi on Monday. Officials in Kenya and Haiti told the Financial Times the first officers will depart as early as Tuesday.
“Our police officers’ presence in Haiti will give relief to the men, women and children whose lives have been broken by gang violence. We will work with the international community to bring lasting stability in Haiti,” Ruto said.
Haiti’s national police force, with approximately 9,000 officers, has struggled to contain about 200 gangs that have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
A squall of violence unleashed by a consortium of gangs in late February led to the collapse of the interim government of Ariel Henry in April, who was replaced by a transitional presidential council. That council is tasked with convening Haiti’s first elections since 2016.
Amid the escalating violence, Haiti’s displaced population jumped 60 per cent between March and June, from 360,000 to 580,000, according to the UN. Hospitals have been forced to close by gang activity, while schools are being used as makeshift shelters for refugees. Gangs are now estimated to control more than 80 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The much-anticipated Kenya-led mission is expected to bolster Haiti’s outmatched police force with about 2,500 additional officers, with Caribbean and African nations, including Barbados, Jamaica and Chad, as well as Bangladesh, agreeing to provide personnel.
The US sate department welcomed the news of the deployment at a briefing on Monday, and said the first officers will arrive in Haiti this week.
“With the arrival of MSS mission personnel, we hope to see further measurable improvements in security, particularly with respect to access to humanitarian aid and core economic activity,” said state department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Ruto is one of the US’s staunchest allies in Africa. Washington is the main backer of the Haiti mission, pledging about $300mn in support, though it has stopped short of sending troops.
The deployment had faced legal challenges, and Kenya’s high court blocked it in January. But Ruto managed to push it through after signing a bilateral agreement with Haitian officials in Port-au-Prince in March.
Last month, Ruto — recalling Africa’s ties with Haiti, which is part of the African Union diaspora region — told the FT his country’s forces “have requisite experience to deal with this”, having been part of more than 40 peacekeeping missions, including neighbouring Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the former Yugoslavia.
But analysts and diplomats say the mission is risky, not just for Kenyan police officers but also for Haitian citizens, as previous interventions in the country have done little to prevent the resurgence of violence and, following the 2010 earthquake that devastated the capital, a delegation of UN peacekeepers was even accused of introducing cholera to Haiti.
“Everyone knows that in the international co-operation world, people like to repeat what was done before, no matter how bad it was, because it’s convenient,” said Emmanuela Douyon, who runs the Haitian think-tank Policité.
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