On the same day that 400 Kenyan police touched down in Haiti for a US-backed humanitarian mission, their colleagues back home were teargassing medics and indiscriminately shooting at peaceful protesters in a brutal crackdown on demonstrations against tax hikes.

The gross human rights abuses committed in Nairobi were in keeping with the reputation of Kenyan police, who have for decades been accused of committing extrajudicial killings, abuse, corruption and harassment. The events placed renewed scrutiny on the US decision to fund their mission to fight gangs in Haiti and the risky gamble the West takes when it funds foreign forces to go where it won’t send its own troops.