A Kenyan police officer walks in front of an armoured personnel carrier during a joint operation with Haitian police, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti July 29, 2024.
Kenyan police officers on a peacekeeping mission in Haiti say they need more firepower, including helicopters and armoured vehicles, the Nation can now reveal.
Sources told Nation.Africa over the weekend that Kenyan troops on the UN-backed mission are facing an equipment challenge even as they continue to battle armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.
“We have so far managed to engage the gangs but there is a challenge with equipment,” a senior officer who is part of the mission told Nation.Africa.
On July 6, the Kenyan officers had received equipment including Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) provided by the US but one had since been destroyed in an ambush.
One of the eight APC vehicles developed mechanical problems after a petrol bombing by a gang in Gauthier Town in Haiti.
When the incident occurred, the Kenyan team joined the Haitian officers in attacking the gangs who had taken over Road Two in Gauthier Town, the main route to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
An APC is a broad type of armoured military vehicle which is designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones.
Haiti National Police
The Kenyan team is under a Multinational Security System Support (MSS) Mission which is working closely with officers attached to the Haiti National Police.
This comes at a time when a team of seven eminent persons from Jamaica and the Bahamas is in Haiti assessing the situation before they can send their officers to the war-torn country.
Asked when the team of officers from the two countries will be arriving in Haiti, Mr Godfrey Otunge, who is the Force Commander of the mission, said the deployment date will become clear once the seven eminent persons finish assessing the situation.
“The coming of the Jamaicans will be known after this team currently in the country finishes their assessment,” he said.
Dr Kenny Anthony, the former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, and Mr Bruce Golding, who is the former Prime minister of Jamaica, led the team of the seven who held a meeting with Mr Otunge at the Montana Hotel located in Petion Ville, Haiti.
Others who also attended the meeting include; Ambassador Director General Jerusa Ali, Ambassador Colin Granderson- Special Advisor on Haiti to the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and Ms Elizabeth Solomon- Assistant Secretary-General (Foreign and Community Relations, Caricom Secretariat).
Others are Ms Anna Lisa Jones-Reis-Officer, Foreign and Community Relations, Caricom Secretariat and Captain Chapell Whyms-Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Otunge said that the main agenda of the group was to understand how the MSS Mission is doing and what are the challenges they are facing.
“The main agenda of the team is to understand how the mission is doing and some of the problems that need an urgent address to enable other contributing countries to send their personnel to Haiti for the Mission,” he said.
Within the meeting, Nation understood that the team regretted the slow delivery of essential equipment and vehicles.
During the meeting, Mr Otunge also said that there was a need for officers to be given helicopters for the mission.
Human rights violations
Other countries apart from Kenya, Jamaica and Bahamas that will send their officers to Haiti include; Benin, Belize, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda.
Others are Bangladesh, Algeria, France, Germany, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Spain.
The Kenyan-led mission in Haiti was authorised by the United Nations Security Council in October 2023.
During this time, the Council called on the Mission to establish an oversight mechanism to prevent human rights violations or abuses and to ensure that the planning and conduct of operations during deployment will be in accordance with applicable international law.
So far a total of 396 police officers have been deployed to Haiti and Kenya is expected to send an additional 600 others.
Mr Otunge in an early interview told the Nation that the timeline in which the additional officers will be sent there remains unknown.
The officers who have been deployed to Haiti are drawn from the General Service Unit, Border Patrol Unit, Recce Squad and other Special Units.
