Kenya-led multinational security mission records first death in Haiti, 26-year-old Samuel Ketwaie

PORT-AU-PRINCE — The Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), assisting the Haitian National Police (PNH) in efforts to combat gang violence, announced on Sunday that 26-year-old Kenyan police officer Samuel Ketwaie had died from gunshot wounds sustained during an anti-gang operation in Savien, near Pont-Sondé in the lower Artibonite Department. This area had seen more than 70 people killed by gangs last October. 

For several months, security forces have been conducting operations aimed at displacing various gangs in the region, notably the Gran Grif and Kokorat San Ras armed groups, which have been terrorizing several local communities.  

“The officer was immediately evacuated by air to the Level 2 hospital at LSA 1, but unfortunately succumbed to his injuries,” said the commander of the multinational force, Godfrey Otunge, in a statement. 

Life Support Area (LSA 1) refers to a camp where the mission’s medical infrastructure is set up. The Level 2 hospital at LSA is a military facility that provides more advanced care than a basic first-aid station, stabilizing the injured before evacuating them to a more equipped hospital. Jack Ombaka, who first reported the officer’s injury, did not specify LSA’s location within the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

According to Ombaka, Kenyan officers and Haitian police responded to distress calls from residents of the Séguin locality who were seeking police intervention after some successful security operations that neutralized many gangs in several areas of the Artibonite Department. Following this incident, the MSS reaffirmed its commitment to pursue the gangs aggressively.

“This is the price our brave officer paid—he was killed fighting for the Haitian people,” said Ombaka in a statement on WhatsApp. “His comrades, refusing to accept this loss, immediately pursued and neutralized the gang member responsible.”

“We will pursue these gangs to the last man standing. We will not let you down,” Ombaka added, noting that the officer “fell as a hero.”

The MSS officials have not disclosed any photos or videos of the slain officer, nor have they shown the moment when support troops from El Salvador evacuated the injured police officers.

The security mission’s most complex test begins

The death of the Kenyan officer comes as the MSS and PNH authorities continue to assess their strategies to restore security and stability in the country. Recently, the security situation in Haiti has worsened, with gang attacks increasing in several areas of the capital and the Artibonite. Clashes are rising as the police force and the multinational mission struggle to achieve the results expected by a populace that has become increasingly critical and skeptical.  

At least six police officers, including four killed in shootouts with gangs invading communes like Kenscoff, Montrouis, and Port-au-Prince neighborhoods such as Fort National, Nazon, Delmas 17 and 30 and Savien in the Artibonite, have been killed or injured. Soldiers from the Haitian Armed Forces (FADH) and agents of the Protected Air Brigade (BSAP) also suffered casualties before the incident was recorded in the camp on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025.

Ketwaje’s death marks the second recorded shooting of an MSS officer since its deployment in June 2024 to support the PNH in efforts against the gangs controlling nearly 90% of the Haitian capital and its surrounding areas and large chunks of the Artibonite Department. The first incident involved a Kenyan police officer who was shot in the shoulder during an operation in Port-au-Prince in July 2024. He was urgently evacuated for treatment before returning to the mission a few months later.

The incident occurred when a team of MSS officers was patrolling the road leading to the National Port Authority in the capital and noticed a gang robbing a rice truck after killing the driver. In response, the MSS officers returned fire as the assailants began shooting at them. During the exchange of gunfire, a Kenyan police officer suffered an injury to the left acromioclavicular joint that involved soft tissue damage.

This loss within the multinational mission, which is grappling with a shortage of security personnel and insufficient funding and equipment, comes at a time when the force is encountering considerable criticism from Haitians. Indeed, many Haitians remain skeptical of the force’s impact, despite occasionally receiving armored vehicles from the United States, the largest financial contributor to the MSS.

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