Members of the first contingent of Kenyan police stand in formation after arriving in the Caribbean country as part of a peacekeeping mission, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti June 26, 2024.
Deadly weapons are still getting into the hands of gangs in Haiti even as foreign troops, led by Kenyan police officers, recaptured a military base that had been overrun by militia, Nation.Africa has learnt.
Kenya is leading a Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission in Haiti.
In conversations between two gang leaders which have been leaked online, one of the gang leaders, who is in possession of the weapons, is directing the other to a hideout with a cache of weapons.
The caller who is asking the other to go and pick the weapons says he has ammunition used in Kalashnikov rifles. A Kalashnikov is famously known as an AK 47 in Kenya.
“These are 33 crates of Kalashnikov ammunitions. I already know you have Galil ammunition, so I didn’t include much- just five crates of Galil. Send someone to pick them. I left them in the yard,” the caller is heard instructing another gang leader.
However, the claims about the ammo depot could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, Haiti gang leader Jimmy Cherizier alias Barbecue has vowed revenge against Kenyan police officers in the MSS Mission and those attached to the Haiti National Police (HNP) following an attack that took place this week in his base.
Barbucue in a video also lamented that during the attack he lost a number of his members and that the raid led to demolition of property which he had invested much in.
Barbecue who is the leader of Viv Ansanm which is a Haitian gang coalition that translates to "Living Together, Fighting United" also said that property worth millions plus his motor vehicles were destroyed during the ambush.
“A police armored vehicle arrived in front of my house. They destroyed a car and my swimming pool. I built the pool for children in the area but they went ahead and destroyed it. I am determined to track them down and make them pay,” Barbecue says in a video which is in our possession.
Last weekend, an ambush was laid in Baz Delmas in Haiti which is the stronghold of Barbecue forcing him to flee alongside a number of his gang members. Some of them lost their lives due to heavy exchange of fire between the officers and the gang members.
The ambush targeting Barbecue took place during a time when the mission has been under fire following a series of attacks that have taken place in the last week when the gangs almost put the country into a standstill.
On Friday morning, a joint operation by officers attached to MSS and those attached to HNP opened their third Forward Operating Base (FOB) which has not been operational for months now.
A FOB is a secured forward military position that serves as a strategic platform for armed forces during operations, located on hostile or foreign locations. It is usually used to support tactical operations, and includes facilities for storage, maintenance, command and control.
During the opening of the FOB which was deserted by officers attached to HNP after Haiti gangs took over the place, heavy gunfire exchange was witnessed as the security officers engaged the gang members.
Already, two FOBs identified as National Police Academy and another one at Port-Sonde have been reopened and are under the management of a team attached to HNP and Mss.
“Efforts from gangs to try to thwart occupation of the building were promptly dealt with. They disappeared after testing the firepower of the newly acquired weapons that the MSS team was using,” Mr Godfrey Otunge the commander of the MSS Mission in Haiti told the Nation.Africa.
Mr Otunge revealed that the MSS intends to use the base to pacify the sea front, the port and the neighboring Delmas area which is the base being controlled by Barbecue.
According to Mr Otunge, the recaptured FOB was once impressive and had been built by the Canadian and American governments but it was currently in a sorry state.
Kenya has a total of 400 police officers in Haiti and is planning to send an additional 600 officers who completed their training in October 2024.
President William Ruto speaking in State House in early October said that in November the 600 will fly to Haiti.
The 600 who are supposed to join their counterparts in Haiti are drawn from; General Service Unit (GSU), Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU), Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) and all the Female Special Weapon and Tactics Team (SWATT).
However, currently there is a US led debate on whether the mission should be turned into a UN peacekeeping mission. However, China and Russia have maintained that they will not vote in support of the move to make it a fully-fledged UN mission.
Meanwhile, helicopters are now being hired by individuals who find themselves in the gang infested country to ferry them to secure destinations.
Ever since flights operations were cancelled in the Caribbean based nation leading to the closure of Toussaint Louverture International Airport that is located in Port-au-Prince the capital city of Haiti most people remain with no option but hiring helicopters.
The cancellations took place after three planes were attacked by gangs who shot at them while they were in mid-air.
A source who spoke to the Nation in confidence said that those who were being evacuated are often directed to an airport in Cap-Haïtien which is based on the North Coast of Haiti or to neighboring country Dominican Republic.
“However, the operations are far from cheap; the costs of evacuations can be very expensive and can be afforded by the privileged few,” said the source.
It is worth noting that immediate former interim Prime Minister Dr Garry Conille who has been in charge of the country since the MSS mission kicked off in June is no longer in office.
His position was taken over by Alix Didier Fils Aime who has promised that he will ensure that peace is restored in Haiti.
“I pledge in front of you, members of the presidential council and the entire nation – to put my energy, my skills and my patriotism at the service of the national cause,” Fils-Aime said in French.
Dr Conille on his part says that no one has powers to kick him out of office.
According to Conille the only person who has the powers to kick him out of office is the President of Haiti. It is worth noting that currently the Caribbean nation does not have a sitting President.
Haiti has not held elections since 2016 and has been without a president since Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021.
