Benedict Kabiru: Authorities confirm officer killed in Haiti

The government of Haiti has identified the Kenyan police officer killed by a gang in the Caribbean nation as Benedict Kabiru.

He was shot dead on Tuesday in Savien while carrying out an anti-gang operation.

The officer, who was part of the Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti, was killed during the operation carried out jointly with Haitian forces.

Haiti’s President Fritz Alphonse Jean termed Kabiru as a valiant police officer who made the ultimate sacrifice for a better future for the Caribbean country.

“The Presidential Transitional Council extends its deepest condolences to the government and people of Kenya, as well as to the family of Bénédict Kabiru, who fell on March 25, in Savien while carrying out his mission,” a statement by the PTC reads.

“This valiant police officer, engaged alongside Haitian forces in the fight against insecurity, made the ultimate sacrifice for a better future for our country. His bravery and commitment will never be forgotten.”

He vowed to pursue the armed criminals who shot Kabiru dead, further promising to hold them accountable for their actions before the courts.

After the attack, videos were shared online purporting to show the officer’s body lying on the ground.

Kenyan authorities have since deployed specialised teams to recover his body, which remains in the custody of guns.

The officer comes from Kikuyu, Kiambu county. Kabiru is the latest Kenyan officer to die in Haiti, where questions continue to grow over the mission’s risks and the safety of the deployed officers.

His death comes just a month after another Kenyan officer, constable Samuel Kaetuai, was fatally shot during an anti-gang operation in the Artibonite region on February 23.

With gangs in Haiti growing more aggressive and police units facing logistical challenges, concerns are emerging over how many more Kenyan officers may have already been killed or could soon lose their lives in the volatile operation.

The latest attack occurred when three armoured vehicles carrying peacekeepers got stuck in a ditch, suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs.

As the officers attempted to recover the vehicles, they were ambushed, leading to Kabiru’s fatal shooting.

The MSS mission, led by Kenya, was launched to support Haitian authorities in restoring order amid escalating gang violence. However, with the increasing number of casualties and operational difficulties, pressure is mounting on Kenyan authorities to address growing concerns over the safety and effectiveness of the deployment.

The incident came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched a tour of the Caribbean with Haiti’s security crisis high on the agenda.

The US has been a key financial supporter of MSS, and the security crisis in Haiti is a focus of Secretary Rubio’s visit to the Caribbean this week.

 On Wednesday, Rubio met Jean in Jamaica. The Haitian government said the meeting was meant to strengthen regional cooperation related to its challenges. Over 80 per cent of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince has been estimated to be under gang control.

Since the MSS arrived, gangs have spread increasingly into rural areas, seizing swathes of territory in the agriculturally critical Artibonite region.

In October, the United Nations said least 70 people, including women and children, were massacred by the Gran Grif gang in the same Artibonite town where the officer was killed on Tuesday.