Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Kenya deploys more officers to Haiti
Kenyan police, who are part of a UN-backed multinational force, deplane at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 18, 2025

KENYA has deployed 217 more armed police officers to join Haiti’s multinational force which is aiming to stamp out the gang violence that has plagued the Caribbean nation, interior minister Kipchumba Murkomen said on Saturday.

This comes as Haitian journalists demand justice as they buried a second colleague killed by gangs.

Mr Murkomen said that the Kenyan police officers left for Haiti on Friday to join the United States sponsored force.

He said: “The Kenya-led mission has made tremendous progress in reducing gang violence, earning praise across the globe,” saying that Kenya’s “commitment to this historic mission is unwavering.” 

Kenya first sent troops to Haiti in June and the total deployment now exceeds 600.

Kenya’s President William Ruto has pledged to deploy 1,000 troops as part of the intervention in Haiti.

The United Nations reports that gang violence killed more than 5,600 across Haiti in 2024 and left about 700,000 Haitians homeless in recent years.

In addition, more than 2,200 people were reported injured and nearly 1,500 kidnapped, it said.

Meanwhile, journalists mourned Marckendy Natoux, one of their colleagues, on Saturday at a funeral in the capital Port au Prince.

Mr Natoux was killed on Christmas Eve in one of the worst attacks on the press seen in the country as he covered the reopening of Haiti’s General Hospital.

Jimmy Jean, who worked for the online news outlet Moun Afe Bon, was also killed during the attack. 

Mr Jean was buried last Thursday.

Johnson “Izo” Andre, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of the Viv Ansanm coalition of gangs, posted a video on social media claiming responsibility. 

He said that he had not authorised the hospital’s reopening.

Robest Dimanche, spokesman for the Online Media Collective, a group that defends the rights of online journalists in Haiti, said: “This was a very dark day. We are asking the authorities to not let this crime go unpunished.”
 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Ambulance workers on the picket line outside London Ambulance Service (LAS) in Deptford, south-east London, February 10, 2023
Features / 26 June 2025
26 June 2025

I found myself alone as the sole reporter at Britain’s largest union conference, leaving stories of modern-day slavery and sexual exploitation going unreported: our socialist journalism is just as vital as the union work we cover, writes ROGER McKENZIE

School support staff members of Unison during a rally outside the Scottish parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh, September 27, 2023
Unison Conference 2025 / 19 June 2025
19 June 2025
People join civil society groups led by Stand Up To Racism during a counter-protest against a rally endorsed by Tommy Robinson in central London, October 26, 2024
Unison Conference 2025 / 17 June 2025
17 June 2025
Similar stories
People repair a roof in a makeshift a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, May 5, 2025
Caribbean / 13 May 2025
13 May 2025

While Trump threatens to send Haitian gang leaders to El Salvador's terror prison, DANNY SHAW reveals how these paramilitary groups are merely symptoms of US-backed neocolonial rule — the real terrorists are the CIA and international actors arming desperate youth to traumatise an unarmed population

A Kenyan police officer, part of a UN-backed multinational f
World / 25 October 2024
25 October 2024