Kenya’s relatively large contingent of police officers who have been helping local forces fight heavily armed gangs in Haiti are gradually being replaced in rotation by troops from Chad, with the first batch headed there in the coming days, top officials said this week.

The incoming batch of Chadian forces is being trained for the urban combat mission in the US even as the first contingent of 215 Kenyan troops returned home this week.

Kenya’s interior ministry reported that this batch had been on the ground in the troubled Caribbean Community nation since 2003, supporting the UN-supported multinational security mission.

“Two hundred and fifteen police officers, who formed the second contingent of the mission to Haiti, have safely returned home. The officers were part of our 2023 deployment to support efforts to stabilise Haiti and assist the Haitian National Police in restoring public order in areas affected by insecurity,” the ministry stated in a social media post.

Heavily armed gangs have been terrorizing large parts of the Haitian capital and nearby areas in the past five years, especially since after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Several Colombian mercenaries who Haitian and US police say were responsible for the murder are currently on trial in Florida with the late president’s wife, Martine Moise, testifying as the star witness for the state.

As the rotation of Kenyan officers picks up steam in the coming months, the UN has said that it is preparing to increase the size of the foreign multinational contingent to over 5,000 troops with powers of detention of criminal suspects.

As Haitian and UN officials discuss the future, the country’s interim government said this week that it is preparing to arrange the first general elections since 2016 sometime next year. So far, the electoral council has reported that it has registered 205 political parties and has already commenced training of electoral officials for the task ahead.