NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 3 — Kenya will now seek parliamentary approval for deployment of its police officers to Haiti after the United Nations Security Council approved a Kenyan-led multi-national security mission to quell gang violence to the Caribbean nation.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei Tuesday said the government was awaiting the nod from the UNSC before taking the matter to the National Assembly.
“To my mind, ‘Expressing willingness to contribute or even lead a Mission’ is not the same as committing troops,” he said Tuesday adding that Kenya will only deploy after satisfying constitutional conditions.
“Now that UNSC Res 2699 (2023) has been adopted, I am certain the government will meet its constitutional obligations and seek necessary parliamentary authorization.”
Haiti has been grappling with a surge in violence since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his private residence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, triggering calls for a security intervention to complement the efforts of understaffed and under resourced Haiti national police force.
Commenting on the UNSC authorization of the police deployment to Haiti, Sing’oei hailed the decision as historic noting that it creates avenues for addressing Haiti’s multidimensional security crises.
Critical instrument
President William Ruto welcomed the UNSC resolution as an “overdue and critical instrument to define the multinational mission.”
He emphasized the mission’s significance as a foundational intervention aimed at creating the necessary conditions for Haiti to consolidate its development and governance.
“It is therefore absolutely essential that resources as well as operational scope available to the UN team, as well as other humanitarian and development actors on the ground in Haiti, be appropriately reinforced,” Ruto said Tuesday.
Ruto said the situation in Haiti, demands a moral responsibility and fundamental justice, emphasizing the need to escalate efforts in providing emergency relief, humanitarian aid, support for livelihoods, and substantial interventions in public health and environmental protection.
Ahead of the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference, Ruto called on nations, international organisations, philanthropies and other institutions to attend to the severe environmental degradation in Haiti, stressing the need for urgent collective action to combat the crisis.
He pointed out that the mission will provide a different footprint in the history of international interventions in Haiti.
President Ruto reiterated that the primary goal of the peace mission is to establish a conducive environment for both the political and civil society sectors in Haiti to usher in stability, development, and democratic governance through a framework owned and driven by the Haitian people.
“The resolution marks an important moment in the history of global multilateralism, as we engage international collective action that places human security and dignity at the same level as state security and sovereignty, and enables the nations of the world to discharge a collective moral duty of securing justice and security for all peoples of all nations,” he said.
He also highlighted that this resolution affirms the Pan-African commitment to continental unity, alongside the African Union’s policy of solidarity with the African Diaspora.
African solidarity
President Ruto expressed Kenya’s solidarity with the Caribbean Community’s Reparations Commission in their quest for accountability for past injustices against African populations, including those enslaved.
“Today, we stand at the threshold of a sequence of reparative measures including debt cancellation to free Haiti from shackles of an ugly past that bind them even now,” he added saying people of Haiti “deserved a break”.
The President extended his gratitude to the United States and Ecuador for their consultative, inclusive, and focused efforts, which he says played a critical role in achieving this resolution.
He also thanked African states in the Security Council, including Gabon, Ghana, and Mozambique, for their stewardship of the process, and all other members of the UN Security Council for their support, which resulted in a resolution aligned with the principles and values of the African Union’s constitutive Act.
President Ruto also commended the Caribbean Community’s Eminent Persons Group, consisting of The Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, The Hon. Bruce Golding, and The Hon. Dr. Kenny D Anthony, for their unwavering commitment to the cause and their offer of CARICOM’s good offices to the government and people of Haiti.
Under the arrangement, Kenya will deploy a 1000-strong police force to Haiti, providing operational support and engaging in joint interventions alongside the Haiti National Police.
Their mission will include enhancing the institutional capacity of the Haitian police force to combat criminal gangs, violent crime, and trafficking in humans, arms, and drugs.
