Kenyan police officer killed in Haiti peacekeeping operation

In a statement on Monday morning, MSS Force Commander Geoffrey Otunge said the officer died at Aspen Level 2 Hospital in Haiti.

“Today, Sunday, February 23rd, 2025, one of our MSS officers from the Kenyan contingent was injured during an operation in SÉGUR - SAVIEN, in the Artibonite department. The officer was immediately airlifted to Aspen Level 2 Hospital but, unfortunately, succumbed to the injuries,” Otunge said in a statement.

The Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), under United Nations auspices, has been in Haiti since 2023.

However, the mission has been plagued by problems, among them frozen financial contributions by President Donald Trump's administration with the UN chief saying at the beginning of the year that more aid was needed for it to be effective.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in January the mission is "still not deployed to full strength," limiting its capacity to support the national police.

Fewer than 800 of the 2,500 police officers hoped for have been deployed.

More than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence, about a thousand more than in 2023, the UN said.

More than a million Haitians were forced to flee their homes, three times as many as the year before.

In January, Kenya sent an additional 144 additional police officers to the Caribbean nation, after Washington backtracked on withdrawing support for a security mission to the troubled nation.