Kenya puts plan to send police officers to Haiti on hold. Photo: Brian Inganga / NTB
The plan to send Kenyan police officers to violence-ravaged Haiti has been put on hold after the departure of the Caribbean country’s prime minister, Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
The Kenyan foreign minister, Korir Sing’oei, explains the decision by saying that the conditions for the mission have completely changed, and that a new assessment will be made in the future.
He points out that law and order has completely broken down in Haiti, and that the country’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has resigned.
– There must be an authority that can be the basis for a police force – which has statutory rights in Haiti, he says.
Henry announced on Monday that he is stepping down as part of a transition arrangement that will lead to new elections in the country. The last election was in 2016.
Henry, whom many Haitians consider corrupt, has, however, postponed elections several times, indicating that the security situation must first be put in order. He has led the Caribbean country since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021.
– Weathering from the inside
Haiti has been marked by unrest for a number of years, and armed gangs have taken control of large parts of the country with brutal violence.
Henry has been out of the country since he went to Kenya to sign the Kenyan secondment agreement. Meanwhile, armed groups that control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, have besieged the country’s international airport and released thousands of prison inmates.
That has led to concerns in Kenya about a mission that many already considered too dangerous and not in the country’s interest.
– The state seems to be deteriorating from within, and the security situation is much worse than when Kenya offered to lead the mission. That is what Murithi Mutiga, who is program director for Africa at the think tank International Crisis Group, says before the Kenyan announcement.
Many challenges
The police force also faced several obstacles before Henry left. The country’s military has previously been sent to other countries, including Somalia, but the police have never been sent out in such large numbers.
Kenyan opposition politician Opiyo Wandayi, who has sued to stop the deployment, says Henry, who was never elected, does not have the authority to make such a deal.
Wandayi warned last week that huge numbers of lives could be lost if police try to crack down on Haiti’s heavily armed gangs. Police leaders have also cast doubt on whether the police are well enough equipped to carry out the mission.
Kenyan authorities, however, have said that the country’s well-trained paramilitary officers are well prepared for the mission, which President Ruto has described as a “greater call to humanity”, motivated by solidarity.
Money problems
Another issue is funding. A U.N. spokesperson said Monday that less than $11 million, just a fraction of the money needed, has come in for the effort.
In addition, Kenya has requested that the costs of the mission be paid in advance, while UN rules mean that funds controlled by the UN can only be used to cover costs that have already been incurred, a diplomat in Nairobi and UN sources told the AP news agency.
Thus, Kenya must find a country that is willing to pay directly to Kenya, which in turn will receive this cover. On top of it all, many countries have been hesitant to participate, partly due to the lack of legitimacy of Henry’s chosen government.
The United States is the largest financial contributor to the force, and US officials say they are confident the deployment will take place once Haiti’s new leadership is appointed after a transition process.
– We believe that those steps will take place in the very near future, and that will pave the way for this deployment to take place without delay, said spokesperson Matthew Miller in the US State Department on Tuesday.