Kenyan deployment to Haiti delayed
May 23, 2024
A long-planned Kenya-led international security mission is again delayed, despite official efforts to deploy officers this week, during Kenyan President William Ruto’s official state visit to the United States, reports the Miami Herald. There are reportedly concerns about basic equipment for the mission’s functioning.
Two hundred Kenyan officers assigned to the mission were told they would fly out of Nairobi on Tuesday evening and were reportedly given no explanation for the last-minute delay and told to remain on standby, reports Reuters.
“Though the mission has been branded as a Kenya-led deployment, congressional aides say it is in practice a U.S.-led mission with multiple actors,” reports the Miami Herald. “The United States, which has pledged $300 million in support and has been taking the lead in getting the troops to Port-au-Prince, is providing ‘the overwhelming preponderance of money,’ one aide said.”
The U.S. has not contributed forces, but Washington is the biggest supporter of Kenya’s role, even as Nairobi faces domestic political and judicial challenges over the strategy, reports Al Jazeera.
Ruto insists Kenya is not a U.S. pawn: “We are not doing this for America, neither are we doing it for anybody [else]. We are doing it for humanity,” Ruto said in an interview with The Africa Report.
While the mission could start at any point, a delay in the procurement of armored vehicles and helicopters equipped for medical evacuations could push the deployment into early June. And an agreement between Haitian and Kenyan authorities on the rules of engagement for security personnel has not yet been committed to writing or submitted to the United Nations Security Council, a prerequisite for the multinational security mission, to begin, reports the Miami Herald.
Haitian police will oversee the international force, and will make decisions on its "makeup, objectives, rules of engagement and health measures," the Transitional Council announced earlier this week on social media. (Reuters)
But with the newly established transitional government on shaky ground, it is not clear who will be held accountable for the mission’s execution, according to Responsible Statecraft.
The mission is the latest in a history of foreign forces in the country, including at least six United Nations peacekeeping missions over the past 30 years. “International soldiers have restored overthrown presidents, eased them out and helped train the Haitian National Police. But they have also left bleak legacies of sexual exploitation, civilian casualties and deadly disease,” reports the New York Times.
More Haiti
Two top U.S. Republican Party lawmakers are accusing the Biden administration of going around Congress to send tens of millions of dollars in military equipment to Kenyan forces deploying to Haiti, which they say could otherwise be used to help Ukraine — Politico
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