A photo purportedly showing a Kenyan soldier in Haiti is misleading.
The photo was shared on October 16, 2023, by Facebook user Isaac Owuor, who claimed that the photo depicted a Kenyan police officer being chased from Haiti.
“A police from Kenya is being chased from Haiti,” the user captioned the image.
However, a fact-check by Business Today has found the claim to be false.
According to a reverse image search on Google, the image was taken on July 12, 2023, by an Associated Press (AP) photographer during anti-government protests led by Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition party.
“A policeman jumps as he tried to avoid a tear gas grenade thrown back towards police by protesters in the Mathare neighborhood of Nairobi. Kenya Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Kenyans angered by the rising cost of living were back protesting on the streets of the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday, as they awaited a speech by a longtime opposition leader,” AP captioned the image.
As of November 15, 2023, Kenya had not deployed its policemen to Haiti, with Kenya’s National Assembly seeking critical answers to the deployment.
Kenya had initially agreed to deploy 1,000 National Police Service (NPS) officers to Haiti under the Multinational Security Support (MSS).
Recently, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki stated that Kenya will not deploy police officers to Haiti until all conditions on funding and training are met by the UN Security Council.
The deployment is aimed at providing operational support to the Haitian National Police, including building its capacity through the planning and conduct of joint security support operations.
The mission will also aim to create conditions to hold elections, which have not taken place in Haiti since 2016.
The post claiming that the photo was of a Kenyan soldier being chased from Haiti is, therefore, false.
This fact check was published by Business Today with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk, through the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).
