The Kenyan government has volunteered to lead a multinational mission to Haiti, but the decision has raised questions and criticism in the East African country, where its detractors consider it dangerous and unconstitutional.
On Monday, October 2, the UN Security Council approved the operation in the poor Caribbean country, plagued by gang violence that controls most of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The Haitian government has been asking for a mission to restore order for a year. But his call for help went unanswered for a long time within the international community, scalded by past experiences in the country.
An unexpected solution arrived in July. Kenya has said it is ready to send 1,000 police officers, an offer welcomed by the United States and other countries reluctant to send their own troops into this risky terrain.
But the green light given Monday by the UN raised many questions in Kenya. “What is their mission in Haiti? », asks Emiliano Kipkorir Tonui, retired brigadier general, who notably supervised the deployments of Kenyan peacekeepers in Liberia, East Timor and the former Yugoslavia. “Kenyans need to be informed. Leaders are responsible to the people,” he told AFP.
The government has not yet presented its project to Parliament, as required by the Constitution before any sending of troops abroad. Parliament announced on Wednesday that it would summon the police chief, Japhet Koome, and the Minister of the Interior, Kithure Kindiki, to clarify the contours of this mission described as unconstitutional by certain legal experts.
President William Ruto said it was a “mission for humanity” in a country he said was ravaged by colonialism, and Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua said Kenya was doing “the will of God” by helping the descendants of African slaves in Haiti. Both also highlighted Kenya’s long experience in peacekeeping missions.
« Mission suicide »
If Kenyan forces – mainly military, but also police – have been deployed all over the world, the mission in Haiti promises to be “particularly risky”, estimates Murithi Mutiga, director for Africa of the International Crisis Group think tank. (ICG): “The security challenges are very different in Haiti, where gangs operate in densely populated, low-income areas, with very good knowledge of the terrain and a commercial interest in maintaining their control. This is an unusual intervention, one that Kenya has never made before. The government must be very thoughtful and careful. »
Japhet Koome assures that his men are “well trained” and that the contingent sent to Haiti will come from specialized units. But according to Emiliano Kipkorir Tonui, Kenyan police are trained in the use of small arms and have little combat experience, suffering losses in their own country against poorly armed bandits and cattle thieves. “The fighters in Haiti have 12.7 mm calibers, which corresponds to heavy machine guns,” recalls the former soldier, member of the Kenyan Veterans for Peace organization, based in Nairobi: “Our police officers are not trained reading maps, like the military. They are not trained in communication, nor in the handling of weapons like machine guns. »
For opponent and lawyer Ekuru Aukot, “this deployment is a suicide mission for our 1,000 police officers,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Like him, some members of the opposition accuse the government of risking the lives of police officers to obtain international gratitude. “We will not accept Kenyan blood being used to fight at the gates of the United States, one of the most powerful nations in the world, just to please our president,” said Siaya County Governor James Orengo (west).
For Murithi Mutiga, the Kenyan authorities want to play a role as an actor of peace on the international scene and Washington has “spotted an opportunity to encourage Kenyans to take the initiative”. Visiting Nairobi on September 25, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington was working with Congress to provide $100 million for the mission, urging other countries to “follow Kenya’s great example.” .
The troubled history of foreign interventions in Haiti shows that Kenya could be perceived as an interfering force. Human rights groups also point out that Kenyan police have a history of using sometimes lethal force against civilians and that they pose a danger in Haiti, where foreign troops have committed abuses during past interventions.