200 Kenyan police officers to leave for Haiti next week
Approximately 200
Kenyan police officers will be deployed to Haiti next week as part of the UN
Security Council-backed security mission to Port-au-Prince.
This comes after
Kenya, in July 2023, volunteered to lead the mission and deploy 1,000 troops to
restore order to the troubled Caribbean nation overrun by marauding criminal
gangs.
According to the
Nation newspaper, the officers, drawn from the elite Recce squad, Rapid Deployment
Force and Special Operation Group, will touch down in Port-au-Prince around May
23 or 24, to align with President William Ruto's official visit to the United
States.
The US government
has pledged $100 million (Ksh.13 billion) to support the mission to Haiti,
further urging other nations to make similar contributions.
Around half of the
platoon, which will operate from a barrack recently established by the US
government, will be tasked with securing critical infrastructure in
Port-au-Prince while the rest will engage the criminal gangs in close-quarter
combat.
In
March, Ruto announced the signing of an agreement between Kenya and
Haiti to facilitate Nairobi's involvement in the multinational security
mission.
The signing of the
agreement, witnessed by Ruto and then Prime Minister Henri, marked a crucial
step towards the deployment of Kenyan troops to Port-au-Prince.
In April, Kenya
subsequently welcomed the swearing-in of the Haiti Transitional Presidential
Council (TPC) tasked with re-establishing key organs of the Haitian government
critical to the restoration of law and order in Port-au-Prince.
The 9-member
council officially took over on April 25, formalizing the
resignation Henry as Prime Minister.
Michel Patrick
Boisvert, who served as Henry's finance minister, will act as interim prime
minister until the transition council selects a new leader, forms a cabinet and
establishes a provisional electoral council aimed at facilitating the country's
upcoming 2026 elections.
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