A second group of 200 police officers from Kenya arrived in Haiti on Tuesday to support a U.N.-backed mission led by the East African nation aimed at combating violent gangs in the troubled Caribbean country.
This latest deployment follows the arrival of the first 200 officers nearly a month ago in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where gangs control at least 80% of the territory.
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Due to security concerns, authorities have not disclosed specific details about the Kenyans’ assignments. However, AP journalists have observed them patrolling areas near the main international airport, which reopened in late May after being closed for nearly three months due to gang violence.
More Kenyan officers are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and months. They will be joined by police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad, and Jamaica, totaling 2,500 personnel. The deployment will occur in phases and is estimated to cost about $600 million a year, according to the U.N. Security Council.
The reaction from Haitians has been mixed. While some welcome the presence of the Kenyans, others are wary, citing years of allegations of abuses, including extrajudicial killings, by Kenyan police in their own country.
