Kenya and Haiti signed an agreement on Friday (March 1) to send Kenyan police officers to the gang-ridden island as part of an international mission supported by the United Nations, according to a statement signed by the Kenyan president William Ruto.
The Kenyan Head of State and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, traveling to Nairobi, “discussed the next steps to allow the acceleration of the deployment”, according to the press release which does not specify whether this agreement is contrary to the decision of a Kenyan court having ruled illegal at the end of January the planned sending of police officers. The agreement signed on Friday provides for the “reciprocal” sending of police officers, without giving further details.
“I take this opportunity to reiterate Kenya’s commitment to contributing to the success of this multinational mission. We believe this is a historic duty, because peace in Haiti is good for the world as a whole,” President Ruto said in the statement.
Faced with increasingly pressing calls from the Haitian government and the UN, Kenya agreed in July 2023 to lead this force of 2,500 to 2,600 men, hoped for “during the first quarter of 2024,” according to the special representative. UN deputy in Haiti. The UN gave the green light in October to this force, also supported by the United States.
An increasingly tense situation
The Kenyan Parliament validated the deployment, before it was blocked by a court decision at the end of January. The government had announced its intention to appeal. Opponent Ekuru Aukot, who had filed a complaint against this deployment, told AFP on Friday that he would file a complaint “for contempt of court”.
Kenya must lead this multinational mission. At the end of February, five countries, including Benin with more than 1,500 troops, notified the UN of their participation in the future mission. The other members of this mission are the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados and Chad, said the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric.
The situation on the ground is increasingly tense. On Thursday, four police officers were killed and five were injured in exchanges of fire with gangs in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Heavy gunfire was heard in several neighborhoods in the Port-au-Prince area, as security forces attempted to repel the attackers who targeted police stations, the police academy and other strategic sites such as the airport. international Toussaint-Louverture.
Since the assassination in 2021 of President Jovenel Moïse, Haiti has faced a serious political, security and humanitarian crisis. Armed gangs have taken control of entire swathes of the country and the number of homicides has more than doubled in 2023. In power since 2021, Ariel Henry should have left office at the beginning of February.
“Relentless and increasing gang violence”
The situation in Haiti “continues to get worse day after day,” Mr. Henry lamented Friday, during a discussion with students at a university in Nairobi, before thanking the Kenyan president for giving the island a ” help “.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres insisted Thursday on the importance of reaching a “political solution” in Haiti, where the arrival of an international force to help local police curb gang violence will not be enough. according to the UN chief. “We need a security system that can put an end to the domination of gangs and the criminality that is destroying the country,” continued Mr. Guterres, deploring the lack of “international support (…) on a humanitarian and economic” in Haiti.
The month of January 2024 was “the most violent in more than two years” in Haiti, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which deplores that the “already disastrous situation” has “further deteriorated, against a backdrop of unrelenting and increasing gang violence.” The UN on Tuesday launched an appeal for donations of $674 million to help 3.6 million people in Haiti, a country facing one of the world’s worst food crises.
