Disregarding the widespread opposition in his country to the Kenya-led, UN-authorised and US-backed Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti, Kenyan President William Ruto deployed the first group of 400 Kenyan police officers on 25 June 2024.
Shortly after, news outlets reported the officers had not received salaries and that the mission was under-resourced, leading some to desert their posts and hand in resignations, a claim the Kenyan government denied.
Moreover, security experts, such as former Haitian Army colonel Himmler Rébu, have said that the Kenyan officers in Haiti lack the capacity to face Haitian gangs, whose violence has destabilised the country. In fact, Rébu referred to Kenyan officers as no more than ‘tourists.’ Further, a 13 January joint investigation by The New Humanitarian (@newhumanitarian on X) and Kenya’s Nation newspaper (@nationafrica on X) found Haiti is worse off now than it was before the arrival of the mission. Their investigation concluded that the Kenya police were ‘unfit for purpose.’
Despite all this, Kenya deployed an additional 217 police officers to Haiti on 18 January. Now, with the US pulling the plug on the already under-capacity mission by announcing a $13.3-million funding freeze of a promised $15 million, the fate of hundreds of Kenyan officers remains unknown.
Foreign interventions since the 1804 Haitian revolution that overthrew French enslavers have continued to destabilise the Caribbean nation, with gangs unleashed by the country’s bourgeoisie that collaborates with foreign powers.
Sources:
https://haitiantimes.com/2025/01/19/217-kenyan-police-officers-arrive-in-haiti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZjPJPIUCKo
https://apnews.com/article/kenya-police-haiti-salaries-peacekeeping-5f2f71318f6025939f1f7c99633d80d1
https://marxist.com/the-gangs-of-haiti-and-the-failure-of-bourgeois-rule.html