The deployment, under a UN-cleared mission, of a Kenyan police force to Haiti, a country where gang violence is a scourge, will happen “probably this week or next week”, Kenyan President William Ruto said.

East African country Kenya will lead the mission, which was approved by the UN Security Council in October, deploying 1,000 police officers to the poorest Caribbean nation. Other countries are also expected to contribute forces (Benin, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Chad…).

“Probably next week or the week after, we will send police officers to restore peace” in Haiti, the head of state said during a visit to Nakuru, in central Kenya.

During an official visit to the US, Mr Ruto assured the BBC on May 25 that he expected the arrival of Kenyan police officers to take place in about three weeks. On May 31, the Kenyan president said he was “convinced” that their deployment would happen very soon.

The mission, in which the US has been heavily involved in terms of material support — but without the deployment of US military or US police elements — is to help Haitian police in their fight against the gangs that terrorize the population.

Haiti has been mired in chronic political instability for decades. But the situation has gotten much worse in recent years.

80% of the capital Port-au-Prince has fallen into the hands of gangs, accused of a host of atrocities — murder, rape, looting, kidnapping for ransom, etc.

The country’s population is simultaneously faced with a serious humanitarian crisis, shortages of food, medicine and other basic products.

In Kenya, the operation sparked fierce criticism and became the subject of legal challenges.

An opposition party filed a new legal challenge in mid-May, accusing the government of an “insult” to justice, as a court ruled the mission “unconstitutional, illegal and void” on January 26, but the government is defying the ruling.

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) also stressed at the end of May that, in addition to the legal proceedings, there are questions about whether and to what extent the mission will “respect human rights”, as well as about its funding. .

Kenyan police are often accused by human rights defenders of excessive use of force and extrajudicial executions.

According to the NGO, 21 million dollars have been deposited in the “trust” to finance the mission so far, while the project is estimated to cost 600 million dollars.

Faced with criticism, Mr Ruto, who is seeking Kenya to gain more weight on the international stage, defends this mission “for humanity”, as Haiti is a country that, in his view, was ruined by colonialism.