Kenya is sending another 200 police officers on a UN mission in Haiti

The delegation from Kenya left on Monday evening local time and was due to arrive in Haiti on Tuesday.

– There they will join colleagues who are already in place. More will follow until we reach the goal of sending a thousand officials, say Kenyan police.

The first group of around 400 men arrived in June. Kenya will lead the UN-affiliated operation, which has a total of 2,500 personnel.

Other countries also contribute personnel, most in Africa and the Caribbean. The operation has the UN’s blessing and approval, but it is not a UN-directed effort of the kind the world has seen before.

The resolution, which forms the legal anchor for the operation, was adopted by the Security Council last year. But legal proceedings in Kenya have caused delays, as has the political upheaval surrounding the departure of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

For years, Haiti has been terrorized by heavily armed gangs that control 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince and most major roads on the island. The situation worsened sharply in February when gangs carried out coordinated attacks on the capital and demanded the resignation of the prime minister.

Ariel Henry resigned in March as the country’s prime minister. He had then ruled the country since President Jovenel Möise was killed in 2021.