P-au-P., July 16, 2024 [AlterPresse] — A new contingent of 200 Kenyan police officers should join the Multinational Mission for Security Support in Haiti (MMAS) on July 16, where gangs continue to reign terror, AlterPresse has learned.
“We have 200 police officers who left last night (Monday, July 15), they should land at their destination Haiti this (Tuesday) morning,” said a senior Kenyan police officer. The information was confirmed by another police officer, according to AFP.
Kenya has offered to send a total of 1,000 police officers to Haiti for the MMAS, a 2,500-member force, initially scheduled to last one year (until October 2024), to which Bangladesh, Benin, Chad, the Bahamas and Barbados are also expected to contribute.
A first contingent of 200 Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti at the end of June as part of this force.
The Kenyan contingent is made up of police officers from several elite units, including the anti-terrorist squadron Recce Squad which intervened during attacks carried out by the radical Somali Islamists Shebab on Kenyan soil (against Garissa University in 2015 and the Westgate and Dusit shopping centres in 2013 and 2019).
Haiti is plagued by gang violence, which controls 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince and the country’s major roads. [apr 16/07/2024 07 :00]
Photo: Archives
