By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The US military said on Friday that it would deliver 24 additional armoured vehicles to Kenyan personnel deployed in Haiti who are heading a long-delayed security operation in the conflict-ravaged Caribbean nation.
About 400 Kenyan police officers were recently deployed to Haiti in a UN-backed security mission to fight armed gangs in the country.
The mission was first requested by Haiti’s previous government in 2022, and of the few of countries that have jointly pledged over 2,500 troops, the Kenyan contingent remains the only group to have arrived.
The US Southern Command, the Department of Defence’s joint military command covering Latin America and the Caribbean known as SouthCom, said it would deliver the mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) MaxxPros to the capital’s main airport via US Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft.
This is in addition to existing fleet of 10 US-provided MRAPs.
The aircraft will also deliver 34 Overhead Gunner Protection Kits, or “turrets,” which military-funded contractors will install onto the armoured vehicles to boost their field view during joint operations with national police, it added.
Kenyan troops were forced to withdraw from the Haitian town of Ganthier late July, marking a major setback in one of the mission’s first significant outings from the capital.
Citing a spokesperson for the Kenyan forces, the Miami Herald reported that the problem with the first MRAPs supplied by the Americans was that they did not have towers, preventing personnel from fighting or responding to attacks from inside.
