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President William Ruto (right) and Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille at the joint news conference at the State House in Nairobi. (Via CMC)
NAIROBI, Kenya, CMC – Kenya Friday announced that it would be sending an additional 600 officers to Haiti, where criminal gangs continue to wreck efforts aimed at bringing security to the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
“I am pleased to announce that an additional 600 Kenyan police officers are completing their pre-deployment training and will be ready for duty next month,” President William Ruto told reporters, flanked by the visiting Haitian Prime Minister Garry Connile.
While he gave no exact date when the troops would be deployed, the number of troops from the African country under the United Nations Security-sanctioned Multinational Security System (MSS) Mission is expected to reach 2,500. Kenya has sent 400 Kenyan police officers to Haiti so far.
CARICOM countries, including Jamaica and the Bahamas, are also participating in the MSS.
Ruto called on the international community to “urgently” rally behind the MSS, which is also facing a lack of funding.
“This is the moment to provide that critical support for us to be able to undertake the exercise at hand,” he said.
Prime Minister Conille, who arrived in Kenya on Thursday for a four-day official visit, echoed President Ruto’s call saying that while there had been “constructive meetings” with international partners, more was needed.
“We would like to see a quicker response, we would like to see more commitment and we are going to continue to push for it.”
Conille’s visit to Kenya comes as the Haitian country deals with an upsurge in gang violence, the last occurring on Thursday, less than a week after gunmen killed more than 100 people in Pont-Sondé in the central Artibonite region north-west of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Media reports say another gang on Thursday attacked another town, killing people and setting homes on fire.
Several radio stations have reported that the attack was launched by the gang in the area of Canaan known as the Taliban. The gang has around 200 members and operates mostly in the northern part of the Port-au-Prince capital.
Members of the Haitian National Police (PNH) have since regained control of the situation and are maintaining security. The number of people killed has not yet been made public.
Arcahaie is located between Haiti’s capital and Pont-Sondé, where the Gran Grif gang, described as one of the most violent of Haiti’s gangs, carried out a massacre last Thursday, killing at least 115 people.
In January last year, members were accused of attacking a police station near Port-Sondé and killing six officers. It is also blamed for forcing the closure of a hospital serving more than 700,000 people.
Amnesty International Thursday expressed deep concern about gang-related violence against children.
“We have documented heartbreaking stories of children forced to work for armed gangs – from making deliveries to gathering information and performing domestic tasks under threat of violence,” said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.
“In addition, girls have been subjected to rape and sexual violence. The desperation of their situation is truly disturbing; many have been displaced or have nowhere to go.”
Prime Minister Connile has described the criminal activities as “senseless” saying a security mission had swiftly deployed to the area of the attack and remained there.
“The work is being done, house by house, neighbourhood by neighbourhood,” he said.
