NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya has deployed hundreds of additional police officers to Haiti to reinforce the multinational security mission battling entrenched criminal gangs in the Caribbean nation.
According to Haitian government sources, 230 Kenyan officers arrived in Port-au-Prince on Monday as 100 others completed their tour of duty.
The rotation aims to sustain pressure on heavily armed gangs that have tightened their grip on the capital amid Haiti’s protracted political and security turmoil.
The United Nations estimates that gangs now control about 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince, a stranglehold that has fuelled a wave of killings, sexual violence, kidnappings and widespread looting.
The unrest surged after the ouster of then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry in early 2024, creating a power vacuum that armed groups quickly exploited.
Kenya leads the UN-mandated Multinational Security Support Mission, approved in 2023 to reinforce Haiti’s overwhelmed national police.
But the mission has struggled to stabilise the situation due to chronic underfunding, inadequate equipment and a staffing shortfall — with only 1,000 officers deployed out of the 2,500 initially planned.
Despite the challenges, the UN Security Council in late September endorsed plans to establish a more robust anti-gang force, signalling renewed international commitment to restoring order.
Haiti — the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere — has gone nine years without elections and is currently governed by a transitional authority.
Legislative and presidential polls are expected in mid-2026, offering a potential path out of the crisis if security conditions improve.
Kenya says the new deployment will ensure continuity in efforts to stabilise the battered nation and support Haitian institutions as they work toward political normalization.
