UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday welcomed Kenya’s offer to “positively consider” leading a multinational police force to help combat Haiti’s gangs and improve security in the Caribbean nation.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in October last year sent an appeal for “the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity” to stop the gangs.
Guterres has been appealing unsuccessfully since then for a lead nation to help restore order to Latin America’s most impoverished country.
Photo: Reuters
The Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said that its offer includes a commitment to send 1,000 police to help train and assist the Haitian National Police to “restore normalcy in the country and protect strategic installations.”
The ministry said it was responding to a request from the Friends of Haiti group of nations.
“Kenya stands with persons of African descent across the world, including those in the Caribbean, and aligns with the African Union’s diaspora policy and our own commitment to pan-Africanism, and in this case to ‘reclaiming of the Atlantic crossing,’” the ministry said.
Haiti’s gangs have grown in power since the July 7, 2021, assassination of then-Haitian president Jovenel Moise and are now estimated to control up to 80 percent of the capital.
The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that Guterres “welcomes Kenya’s positive response to his call” and expresses gratitude to Kenya for its “solidarity.”
The secretary-general calls on the UN Security Council to support a non-UN multinational operation in Haiti “and encourages member states, particularly from the region, to join forces from Kenya” in supporting the country’s police, Haq said.
The ministry said that its proposed deployment would crystalize once the council adopts a resolution giving a mandate for the force and other Kenyan constitutional processes are undertaken.
A Kenyan task force plans to undertake an assessment mission to Haiti within the next few weeks which “will inform and guide the mandate and operational requirements of the mission,” the ministry said.
Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Victor Geneus said that “Haiti appreciates this expression of African solidarity and looks forward to welcoming Kenya’s proposed evaluation mission in the coming weeks.”
Guterres, who visited Haiti early last month, called afterward for a robust international force to help the Haitian National Police “defeat and dismantle the gangs.”
An estimate by the UN independent expert for Haiti, William O’Neill, that up to 2,000 additional anti-gang police officers would be needed is no exaggeration, Guterres said.
O’Neill, who concluded a 10-day trip to Haiti last month, is an American lawyer who has been working on Haiti for more than 30 years and helped establish the Haitian National Police in 1995.
The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on July 14 asking Guterres to come up with “a full range of options” within 30 days to help combat Haiti’s armed gangs, including a non-UN multinational force, a possible UN peacekeeping force, additional training for the Haitian National Police and providing support to combat illegal arms trafficking to the country.
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