Nairobi is sending police officers to the Caribbean country to address gang violence.
The government’s decision to dispatch over 1,000 police personnel to Haiti as part of a UN-backed mission to combat gang violence has been approved by Kenyan MPs.
The officers will be deployed in phases beginning next year, with all costs paid for by the UN.
In order to train its staff for the programme, Kenya had already asked UN members for $237.5 million, and the US had promised $100 million. The total estimated budget for the Haiti operation is $600 million.
A number of nations, including Senegal, Chad, Burundi, Chile, Jamaica, Ecuador, and Barbados, will be participating in the peacekeeping mission.
Currently, about 300 armed gangs are in charge of both vast swaths of the country’s countryside and portions of the nation’s city, Port-au-Prince. The economy is in a crippled state because to the widespread kidnappings, extortion, and rival group infighting.
A joint committee of the Kenyan Senate and National Assembly has determined that at least 2,500 officers will be needed to help restore law and order in Haiti and provide humanitarian relief.
“The planned deployment is based on Kenya’s obligations as a member of the UN and the international community of states. According to MPs, Kenya has always been at the forefront of offering solutions to problems pertaining to international security.
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A small opposition group called the Thirdway Alliance has denounced the plan as unlawful, claiming that police cannot be sent abroad; only the military can.
Kenya’s leading opposition figure, Raila Odinga, asserted last month in an interview with local TV that “Haiti is at the doorstep of the United States, which is the most powerful nation in the world.” Why is Kenya the country selected to head the multinational army in Haiti, and what makes it so special?
William Ruto, the president of Kenya, has defended the initiative, saying that “Africa is keen to contribute to the freedom and security of Haiti.”
Haiti asked for outside help in 2022, claiming it was unable to combat criminal organisations. With President Jovenel Mois’s killing in July 2021, the security and humanitarian situation in has rapidly gotten worse.
Early in October, the UN Security Council established an armed security assistance mission in Haiti; this operation would not function as an official UN peacekeeping force. It is anticipated that the Peacekeepers and the Haitian National Police will work together to equip and train local officers.
