The government has announced that Kenyan forces to lead a UN-backed multinational mission to tackle gang violence in Haiti departed Nairobi late Monday despite a court case against the deployment.
Kenya offered to send 1,000 police to stabilize Haiti alongside forces from several other countries, but the deployment has encountered persistent legal troubles.
In a statement, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said some 400 officers left Nairobi at 10:50 pm (1950 GMT) aboard the national carrier, Kenya Airways, en route to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
"Honoured to see off the first batch of the contingent of the National Police Service officers who are part of the historic United Nations Mission to Haiti," Kindiki said.
The group comprises elite officers from the Rapid Deployment Unit, General Service Unit, Administration Police, and Kenya Police.
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The deployment came hours after President William Ruto flagged off the team in a ceremonial goodbye to the officers on Monday.
According to the footage shared by the presidency, the media was not invited to the ceremony in Nairobi, where Ruto prayed for the officers and handed them a Kenyan national flag.
"This mission is one of the most urgent, important and historic in the history of global solidarity," Ruto told the officers in quotes shared by his office.
"Your presence in Haiti will bring hope and relief to communities torn apart by violence and ravaged by disorder," he said, adding that the rest of the force will join their colleagues "soon".
Haiti has long been rocked by gang violence, but conditions sharply worsened at the end of February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince, saying they wanted to overthrow then-prime minister Ariel Henry.
Henry announced in early March that he would step down and hand over executive power to a transitional council named Garry Conille as the country's interim prime minister on May 29.
The violence in Port-au-Prince has affected food security and humanitarian aid access, with much of the city in the hands of gangs accused of abuses, including murder, rape, looting and kidnappings.
