A new team of 600 police officers to be sent to Haiti graduated Friday ahead of planned deployment later this month
The last batch of 600 Kenyan police officers is preparing to join the mission in Haiti, with their departure scheduled for November 27.
The officers who graduated last Friday, November 8 after concluding an eight-week training have been given a two-week break to ensure they get enough rest ahead of the deployment.
They are drawn from both the Kenya Police and Administration Police Service (APS) units.
The General Service Unit (GSU) contributes a total of 200 officers while the rest are from the AP including the all-female Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT).
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja presided over the closure of the training at the National Police College Embakasi ‘A’ Campus.
The officers commenced the training in August.
It was to last for about 18 weeks but was reduced due to the urgency to deploy them to support the team on the ground in tackling the gang violence.
The training covered physical activities, lessons in international relations, specialised weapon handling and close-quarter combat techniques mostly associated with officers from the Recce company.
Those selected were required to have a minimum of five years of service and proficiency in English among others.
Kenya has already deployed the first batch of about 400 police officers to the Caribbean nation.
At least 10 countries have promised to send a total of about 2,900 troops to participate in the Kenyan-led mission.
But only about 430 have deployed since the UN-authorised mission got underway in June, nearly 400 of them from Kenya.
The planned deployment comes even as President William Ruto disclosed that he held a telephone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump over the Haiti Mission.
“I congratulated him following his election as the 47th President of the United States of America. We discussed areas of mutual interest that are of benefit to the citizens of our two countries, including trade and investment, security and good governance,” he said.
“I briefed President Trump on the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti and possible areas of cooperation with the US government on this important conflict resolution initiative,” he added.
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted unanimously early last month to extend the mandate of the force.
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Publish date : 2024-11-10 19:37:00
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