Kenya Boosts Haiti Mission With 200 More Officers Amid Rising Gang Violence

Kenya announced Saturday that it is sending an additional 217 police officers to Haiti as part of a bid to boost the multinational force responsible for stabilizing the violent island. Three months since the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission, MSS, which operates under United Nations auspices, was established in June, criminal gangs are estimated to hold sway over some 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen stated that the newly deployed officers will supplement the 400 officers already deployed last year. “The Kenya-led mission has greatly contained gang violence and received international commendation, including both outgoing and incoming US administrations,” Murkomen observed.

UN reported that gang violence killed 5,601 people in Haiti last year, a sharp increase from the previous year. The rising violence has displaced over a million Haitians, tripling the displacement figures from 2023.

Kenyan President William Ruto earlier stated that the force would deploy approximately 2,500 officers. In September 2024, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the mission but declined to place it under direct UN control, which was demanded by some Haitian authorities.

Despite the success of the mission, rights groups have criticized Kenya for the alleged excessive use of force by its officers during anti-government protests in June, which resulted in several dozen fatalities in Kenya.