Kenya deploys reconnaissance mission to Haiti

A delegation of Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti on Sunday.

Nearly a dozen senior police officers left the Toussaint Louverture international airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in armored cars heading to the U.S. embassy.

The Kenyan officers are on a reconnaissance mission to Haiti following the country’s offer to help the Haitian national police in their fight against gang violence.

On Friday, U.N. human rights officials denounced what they called the “extreme brutality” of gangs in Haiti, with thousands fleeing several neighborhoods in the country’s capital this week amid a surge in violence.

From January 1 until August 15, more than 2,400 people in Haiti were reported killed, more than 950 kidnapped, and another 902 injured, according to Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The eastern African country has offered to lead an international effort to help Haiti’s understaffed and under resourced police department.

With only about 10,000 officers for the Caribbean nation’s more than 11 million people, Haitian police have been unable to quell gang violence that has taken control of almost 80 percent of the capital.

Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police Noor Gabow, who is leading the Kenyan mission, did not return a message seeking comment.