The head of the Kenyan support mission in Haiti has dismissed allegations that Kenyan police officers required rescue by Haitian counterparts during a joint operation aimed at protecting a city from being overtaken by armed gangs.
The operation took place 28 miles east of Port-au-Prince, where the forces sought to defend the rural town of Ganthier, near the Dominican Republic border.
Godfrey Otunge, the force commander of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, responded to these claims on Tuesday emphasising the strong collaboration between the Kenyan police and the Haiti National Police (HNP).
"My officers and my vehicles were shot at," Otunge told the Miami Herald, a US-based media outlet, "And the officers fought fiercely together with the HNP."
He further added, "At no given time did the HNP or MSS seem to be competing with each other."
The accusations surfaced after a report by Frantz Duval, the editor-in-chief of Haiti’s oldest daily newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, described the operation in Ganthier as a failure.
Speaking to the Miami Herald, Duval pointed to the operation as an example of the unfulfilled promises by the United States and Canada to help Haiti restore security.
He argued that despite the arrival of the first contingent of 400 Kenyan police officers on June 25, little had changed in the country's security situation.
Duval specifically highlighted the July 21 attack on Ganthier by the powerful 400 Mawozo gang, noting that when the situation became critical, it was the HNP that provided cover for the Kenyan forces.
“The Kenyans went on a mission to Ganthier with the HNP,” Duval claimed.
“When things went awry it was the HNP that provided cover to the Kenyans... because the Haitians are better equipped than the Kenyans.”
Despite these assertions, Otunge remains adamant that the mission was a collaborative effort, refuting any notion of unhealthy competition between the Kenyan and Haitian forces.
