Chad plans to send 800 police officers and gendarmes to Haiti this year to help combat powerful armed gangs.
The deployment is expected by June after Chadian forces undergo training with “European and American partners,” according to an anonymous official.
Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez said the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force will reach 5,500 personnel by October, replacing Kenyan-led operations gradually.
Alvarez noted Chadian troops were reportedly being trained in the United States, though the U.S. State Department denied any training there.
“We thank the Government of Chad for their pledged contribution… Chadian troops are not training in the United States,” a spokesperson clarified.
The Gang Suppression Force succeeds the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission, but few deployments have arrived since approval in September last year.
Currently, the force consists mostly of Kenyan police with smaller contingents from Central America and the Caribbean, awaiting additional international contributions.
Chad pledged support to the MSS in October 2023 without specifying numbers or a timeline, joining similar promises from Benin and Bangladesh.
Despite pledges, no troops from Chad, Benin, or Bangladesh have yet deployed, leaving Haiti’s gang crisis largely in the hands of existing forces.
The new deployment aims to bolster Haitian police struggling against entrenched gangs, highlighting the urgent need for international cooperation and swift action.