To help resolve the conflicts tearing Haiti apart, Kenya is ready to invest heavily. This Saturday, July 29, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the African state said it was ready to send 1,000 police officers to come to the aid of this small Caribbean country. He would thus take the lead of the multinational force for which the United States is campaigning.
“Kenya has agreed to positively consider leading a multinational force in Haiti. Kenya is committed to deploying a contingent of 1,000 police officers to help train and support the Haitian police in restoring normalcy to the country and protecting strategic installations,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
His “deployment proposal”, however, requires a mandate from the UN Security Council as well as the agreement of local authorities, the ministry said. “An assessment mission by an operational Kenya Police team is planned in the coming weeks,” the same source further explained, saying that this will help to acquire information and orient the mandate according to the operational needs of the mission in Haiti.
No other details were immediately available. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry have called on the international community to intervene to help local police, overwhelmed by gangs who control nearly 80 percent of the capital, Port-au- Prince.
These gangs multiply crimes, such as kidnappings, armed robberies and car thefts. Ahead of Nairobi’s announcement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that progress towards the creation of a multinational peacemaking force in Haiti was underway.
Kenya has already deployed its peacekeeping forces abroad, notably in DR Congo and Somalia.
