When Kenyan police were first deployed to Haiti back in June, Haitian gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier branded them ‘invaders,‘ saying their presence would not be tolerated.
Two months into the US-funded mission, the 400 Kenyan officers were still waiting to be paid and were reportedly complaining about a lack of resources.
Kenyan president William Ruto has announced that the contingent’s size will be doubled in the coming weeks. However, he also said that he was in talks to transform the mission into a UN one.
Was that an admission that the deployed Kenyan forces in Haiti are overwhelmed? In this clip, former Haitian colonel Himmler Rébu tells DW that the officers are mere tourists, lacking the means to properly police the island nation’s rampant gangs.
Video Credit: DW News
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZjPJPIUCKo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXUg3qv3Thc
https://nation.africa/kenya/news/police-in-haiti-facing-pay-delays-relatives-say-4738970