The Kenyan army arrives in Haiti this week

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – A Kenyan force is expected to arrive in Haiti this week to lead a UN-backed mission to tackle gang violence despite legal challenges to it, government and police sources said on Sunday.

Kenya offered to send a thousand police officers to stabilize Haiti, along with personnel from several other countries, but the deployment ran into legal problems in the East African country.

President William Ruto has been an enthusiastic supporter of the mission, saying this month that the deployment would begin within weeks.

“The departure is Tuesday this week,” an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

New Haitian Police Chief Rameau Normil (left) speaks with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille after being sworn in at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince on June 21, 2024. Prime Minister Garry Conille said on June 20 that Rameau’s appointment was motivated by the need to “reinvigorate” security forces against gangs terrorizing the population.

“Preparations have been made for the team’s departure to Haiti on Tuesday. We already have two forward teams that have left – one last week and one yesterday,” a senior police official said on Sunday.

A UN Security Council resolution approved the mission in October, but a Kenyan court postponed the deployment in January.

According to the report, the Kenyan government has no authority to send police officers abroad without prior approval.

The government secured that deal on March 1, but a small opposition party in Kenya has filed a new lawsuit to try to block it.

Besides Kenya, other countries that have expressed their willingness to join the mission include Jamaica, Benin, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados and Chad.

The United States provides financing and logistical support, but is not on the ground in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.

A woman who sells clothes for a living waits for customers on a bridge over a trash-clogged ravine at the Telele Market in the upper Delmas district of Port-Au-Prince on June 16, 2024.

Global monitor Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns about the mission and doubts about its financing.

Rights groups have accused Kenyan police of using excessive force and committing unlawful killings.

On Friday, a police watchdog said it was investigating allegations that a 29-year-old man was shot by officers in Nairobi after youth-led demonstrations against proposed tax increases.

Haiti has long been plagued by gang violence, but conditions sharply deteriorated in late February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in the capital Port-au-Prince, saying they wanted to overthrow then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Henry announced in early March that he would resign and hand executive power to a transitional council, which on May 29 would appoint Garry Conille as the country’s interim prime minister.

Violence in Port-au-Prince has affected food security and access to humanitarian aid, with much of the city in the hands of gangs accused of abuses including murder, rape, looting and kidnapping.