The Kenyan police command, operating under the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, has dismissed claims that many Kenyan officers have sustained serious injuries while on duty in Haiti.
MSS Spokesperson Jack Ombaka responded to recent media reports on Saturday evening, which suggested that gangs in Haiti were causing significant harm to Kenyan officers.
These reports followed the death of another Kenyan officer in the country.
Ombaka refuted the allegations, attributing them to a deliberate propaganda campaign designed to undermine the mission.
He emphasized that there are no serious injuries among the Kenyan officers.
“The so-called serious injuries are wishful thinking. Sadly, there are individuals out there hoping for serious harm to our officers. The truth is, there are no serious injuries,” he asserted.
According to Ombaka, any officer who is injured while on the mission is promptly evacuated to the Dominican Republic for medical treatment.
He further clarified that the injuries sustained by officers during recent gang attacks have not significantly impacted the mission.
“All officers who were injured have since recovered and returned to their base in Haiti,” Ombaka added.
When pressed to provide specific details about the number of officers injured, Ombaka stated that only a few had been affected, but declined to give an exact figure.
“The number of injured officers cannot exceed three. The last of these three has just returned to base, and at the moment, we have no injuries to report,” he explained.
Earlier this week, Reuters published a report suggesting that a Kenyan officer, along with a colleague, had sustained serious injuries in clashes with Haitian gangs.
According to anonymous sources, one officer was shot in the head, with a bullet piercing his helmet, while the other was wounded in the ear after a gunshot penetrated the armored vehicle.
In response to a circulating video allegedly showing the missing Kenyan officer, Benedict Kabiru, in a gang-controlled area, MSS has dismissed these claims.
They stated that the individual in the footage is not Kabiru, and the video is part of a larger disinformation campaign by criminal elements in Haiti.
Ombaka cautioned against relying on such videos, particularly with the advent of artificial intelligence, which makes it difficult to authenticate footage.
As of April 2025, approximately 750 Kenyan police officers are deployed in Haiti as part of the United Nations-backed MSS mission.
This is part of Kenya’s commitment to send a total of 1,000 officers to help stabilize the Caribbean nation.
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