Kenyan Officers in Haiti |
Kenya will begin to deploy police officers to Haiti to lead a UN-authorized multinational mission to quell gang violence. The officers—some of whom have experience fighting Islamist insurgent groups near Somalia—will constitute 1,000 of the 2,500-person security force that is largely financed by the US. More than 1,500 people have been killed in Haiti so far this year, and hundreds of thousands have fled as gangs control 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince. One of them—the Crips-inspired 5 Segonn—is among the country’s leading cocaine traffickers, with ties to the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s then-president. Kenya's decision to deploy officers comes after a series of court-ordered delays and as Haiti’s main airport reopened for the first time in three months. In addition to Kenya, a number of countries have offered personnel for the mission, including the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad, and Jamaica. |