Kenyan police begin withdrawal from Haiti

Kenia.- Police officers from Kenya deployed on an international security mission in Haiti will begin returning to Nairobi on Tuesday as part of a gradual withdrawal, while preparations are underway for the deployment of forces from Chad to combat armed gangs.

Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez announced that the Kenyan officers will be progressively withdrawn, while the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) is expected to be fully deployed in Haiti by October. The transition will allow time for new troops to arrive and adapt to conditions on the ground.

The GSF is conceived as an expansion of the previous Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission led by Kenya, which aimed to assist the Haitian National Police in confronting gangs that control large parts of the country. However, since its approval last year, the mission has seen limited reinforcements and has been composed mainly of Kenyan personnel, along with small contingents from Central America and the Caribbean.

The earlier mission faced challenges due to a lack of troops, funding, and equipment. Although it initially aimed to deploy 2,500 personnel, only about 970 were sent, most of them from Kenya. After 15 months on the ground, the mission failed to regain territory from gangs despite multiple operations against their leaders.