Second group of Kenyan police set to arrive in Haiti Tuesday

The second batch of about 200 Kenyan police officers will arrive in Haiti Tuesday morning to supplement efforts to end gang violence in the Caribbean country.

The group left Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Monday evening aboard a United Nations chartered flight signalling Kenya's strong commitment to the mission it's leading miles away from home.

The team was escorted by the immediate former Deputy Inspector General of the Administration Police, the coordinator of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti, Noor Gabow who the acting Deputy Inspector General of Police James Kamau accompanied.

The team is expected to assist their colleagues who arrived earlier in monitoring and patrolling Port au Prince, the country's capital, and protecting critical infrastructure such as airports.

Since the arrival of the first batch of about 200 last month, the team under the command of Godfrey Otunge has been seen manning critical infrastructure and patrolling the streets alongside local police officers.

More countries are expected to send in their officers in due time in efforts to rebuild the nation that has been plagued by gang violence since the assassination of its former president Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021.

A probe into the assassination shows that the former president was killed in a well-planned international plot that enlisted a Miami-based security firm to hire a squad of ex-Colombian soldiers to carry out the attack.

According to court records seen by the local newspaper Miami Herald, the soldiers enlisted local gangs' support.

"The records reveal for the first time that Moise's political rivals met with a handful of gang leaders to solicit their help in the deadly assault plan on Haiti's President three years ago. But in the end, the support of key members of Haiti's ruthless armed gangs didn't really materialise in the shocking slaying of Haiti's leader. Moise's death did create a power vacuum that allowed hundreds of gangs to terrorise Haitians in one of the nation's most violent and destabilising periods," the paper reported.

Some of the suspects arrested after the assassination were however freed in the recent gang raid on the country's national penitentiary.

They include the head of the security unit charged with protecting Moise's life.