PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Kenya sent more than 200 police officers to Haiti on Saturday, providing backup to an understaffed security mission in the Caribbean country where rampant gang violence has displaced more than a million people.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya has deployed 217 more police officers to Haiti as part of a multinational force to curb gang violence plaguing the Caribbean nation, Kenya's interior minister said on Saturday. According to the minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, the police officers departed from Kenya on Friday.

Haiti to join the initial batch of 400 policemen to restore peace in the gang-infested Caribbean country.

There are still significant challenges with the funding that were already there with the Biden administration.”

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.

Kenyan President William Ruto said the plan is eventually to send 2,500 police officers to Haiti under the UN-backed mission.

Another 217 Kenyan police officers arrived Saturday in Haiti as part of a UN-backed mission to tackle gang violence and restore stability in that nation, the Kenyan presidency confirmed.

Criminal gangs still control some 85 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince, the United Nations estimates, despite the deployment last June of the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS

The 217 officers will reinforce the first batch of 400 officers who were deployed last year to the Caribbean nation to restore peace. Gang violence killed at least 5,601 people in Haiti in 2024