The Kenya police team deployed to Haiti will use AK47 rifles as their primary weapon for combat despite being offered a number of options.
Sources said the officers settled on the AK47 rifles because they are used to them.
“These are the weapons they are used to. If the others will come we will see but for now, it is the AK47 rifles to be used,” an official involved in the matter said.
There were concerns the Haitian gangs could be armed with sophisticated weapons but officials brushed off such fears saying they were not going to confront them in street fighting.
The team arrived in Haiti on Tuesday night and proceeded to the main operations centre near the main airport.
They had left Nairobi for New York aboard a Kenya Airways flight after being seen off by officials led by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo and Inspector General of police Japhet Koome.
The mission coordinator, Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police Noor Gabow, flew with the team.
They will be deployed to the local airport, two main highways, the port and the main hospital.
Other personnel from other countries in the team will also be deployed to other marked installations.
The team will use the General Service Unit uniform as their official operations attire.
More than 1,000 officers were picked from the Rapid Deployment Unit, Anti Stock Theft Unit, General Service Unit, and Border Patrol Unit to form a larger team for deployment.
Another team of 1,000 is on standby in Kenya to replace those who need replacement, officials said.
The officers have paramilitary training and are likely to work well with other personnel from countries that have agreed to send theirs to Haiti for the same mission.
Kenya will take the command and operations of about 3,000 personnel.
Department of Peace Operations, the multinational force in Haiti, will be overseen by Kenya, although its forces are there with UN authorisation, which gives the intervention the backing of international law.
Chile, Jamaica, Grenada, Paraguay, Burundi, Chad, Nigeria and Mauritius are among the countries that have confirmed the deployment of their officers to Haiti.
President William Ruto on Monday flagged off the first group of 400 police officers for the Haiti mission.
Koome last week appointed Senior Assistant Inspector General of Police Godfrey Otunge to lead the team as their new commander.
He also appointed the General Service Unit’s head of operations Commissioner Stephen Chebet to join the team as the head of operations.
Gabow will be the coordinator from Nairobi in training and building capacity of the team and those in the Haiti national police.