To combat the gangs controlling Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, Kenya has pledged to send 600 more police officers to Haiti in the coming weeks. This deployment will increase the number of Kenyan officers in the Caribbean nation’s police force to 1,000, with personnel being gradually deployed since June.
During a visit to Haiti, Kenyan President William Ruto expressed his support for transforming the current Kenya-led security mission into a full-fledged UN peacekeeping operation. Several other countries have also committed at least 1,900 additional troops.
Despite these efforts, violence remains rampant in Haiti, with a UN human rights expert warning that gangs are expanding their reach and displacing more people. The UN Security Council is set to meet by the end of the month to consider extending Kenya’s current mandate for another year, paving the way for a full UN mission by 2025. This extension would allow for increased funding and resources, addressing the mission’s current equipment shortages.
President Ruto praised the Kenyan officers at their base in Port-au-Prince for their achievements, saying, “Your progress has changed perceptions; many now believe Haiti can be stabilized.” He assured the officers of his commitment to providing better equipment to combat the gangs.
Ruto noted that about 400 Kenyan police officers are currently patrolling and working alongside Haitian forces to protect the population and restore security. He added that an additional 600 officers are undergoing training and would be ready for deployment within weeks, pending the necessary support.
However, the mission has faced criticism in Haiti for its perceived lack of decisive action against the gangs. UN human rights expert William O’Neil recently stated that the mission was under-resourced and urgently needed drones, night vision goggles, and helicopters. According to O’Neil, less than a quarter of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), authorized by the UN Security Council in October 2023, has been deployed so far.
He also highlighted ongoing smuggling of weapons and ammunition into Haiti in defiance of international bans, enabling gangs to expand their influence. After visiting Haiti’s southeast, O’Neil reported that local police lacked the technical and logistical capacity to confront the gangs effectively.
“There is a severe lack of resources,” O’Neil quoted a police officer in Jérémie. “We need to strengthen our capabilities.”
O’Neil also pointed to a significant increase in sexual assaults and reported that over 700,000 people have been displaced. “This ongoing suffering must end. We are in a race against time,” he stressed, calling for urgent action to empower the MSS mission with the necessary tools and implement UN Security Council measures, including targeted arms embargoes and sanctions.