200 more Kenyan police deploy to tackle Haiti violence

Another 200 Kenyan police officers have left for Haiti under a UN-backed mission to try to quell rampant gang violence in the troubled Caribbean nation, senior police officers said Tuesday.

The deployment comes after the East African nation sent some 400 officers to the violence-ravaged Haitian capital Port-au-Prince in June, part of a controversial offer to send some 1,000 police to help stabilise the country.

The promise — made by embattled President William Ruto, who is trying to calm roiling anti-government protests at home — has run into persistent legal challenges in Kenya.

“We have 200 police officers who left last night, they should land in their destination of Haiti this morning,” one senior police officer told AFP on Tuesday. “They are joining their colleagues who are already on the ground.” Another senior police source confirmed to AFP that the officers had left on Monday night, travelling by chartered plane, adding: “More will be departing soon until we have all the 1,000.”

The East African nation is leading a force expected to number a total of some 2,500 personnel. other countries, mostly in Africa and the Caribbean, are also contributing to the mission, which is blessed but not managed by the United Nations.

On July 1, Kenya’s National Police Service issued a statement to scotch rumours that seven officers had been killed in Haiti.

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