A disturbing video has surfaced showing a Kenyan police officer, believed to be part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission in Haiti, in the hands of suspected gang members.
The amateur footage, seemingly recorded on a mobile phone, shows the officer lying motionless on the ground as one of the assailants slaps him. It remains unclear whether the officer is alive or dead.
MSS has confirmed that the officer went missing on March 25 at around 16:30 hrs following an ambush by suspected gang members in the Artibonite Department.
According to MSS spokesperson Jack Ombaka, the officer disappeared when a routine patrol by the Haitian National Police (HNP) encountered difficulties along the Carrefour Paye-Savien Main Supply Route. The HNP’s armored vehicle got stuck in what is suspected to be a deliberately dug ditch.
In response, MSS deployed two Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles from Pont-Sonde to assist, but the rescue mission took a turn for the worse when one MRAP also got stuck, and the other suffered a mechanical failure.
The fate of the missing officer remains unknown, but MSS has confirmed that specialized teams have been deployed to locate him and assess the situation.
This incident comes just a month after Constable Samuel Tompoi Kaetuai was shot and killed in the same region while on duty on February 23.
