The United States military announced on Friday that it would provide 24 more armoured vehicles to Kenyan soldiers stationed in Haiti, who are in charge of a protracted security operation in the country devastated by violence in the Caribbean.
About 400 Kenyan policemen recently deployed to Haiti as part of a security mission authorised by the United Nations to combat heavily armed gangs who have taken over most of the capital.
The former administration of Haiti first requested the mission in 2022. Kenya is the only country that has sent troops out of the small group of nations who have pledged more than 2,500 troops in total.
The Department of Defense’s combined military command for Latin America and the Caribbean, known as SouthCom, or U.S. Southern Command, said that it will use U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes to transport the mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) MaxxPros to the capital’s main airport.
The statement indicated that the shipments would begin on Friday, bringing the total number of MRAPs supplied by the US to ten.
Additionally, it stated that 34 Overhead Gunner Protection Kits, or “turrets,” will be delivered by the aircraft to military-funded contractors who will mount them on the armoured vehicles to improve their field of vision during cooperative operations with the national police.
One of the mission’s first big sorties from the capital proved to be disastrous when Kenyan forces were forced to evacuate the Haitian village of Ganthier in late July.
The Miami Herald, citing a spokesman for the Kenyan army, stated that the lack of towers on the first MRAPs the Americans gave prevented personnel from fighting or retaliating against strikes from within.
Violence in Ganthier had by Aug. 1 displaced nearly 6,000 residents, U.N. data showed.
Close to 600,000 people have been internally displaced by the conflict and hundreds of thousands of would-be migrants deported back to Haiti, where nearly 5 million people are suffering from severe hunger. The mission’s initial 12-month mandate is set to end in October.
Haiti first looked to outside assistance in 2022 as gang violence intensified. Still, it was unable to find a leader willing to take the reins, and many foreign governments were hesitant to support the unelected government in the impoverished country.
Kenya, which has a lengthy history of taking part in international peacekeeping operations, announced earlier year that it was sending 1,000 police officers, citing its support for a neighbouring nation as groundwork.
