Kenyan police arrived in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, Tuesday as part of a U.N.-backed multinational security mission to combat gang violence.
“We hope to see further measurable improvements in security, particularly with respect to access to humanitarian aid and core economic activity,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in advance of the arrival of the Kenyan force.
In July 2023, Kenya offered to head an international force to combat violence in Haiti, where gangs reign over most of the capital. Killings, kidnappings, and sexual violence are rampant.
More than 580,000 people across the country have been left homeless from pillaging.
The gangs organized attacks on government infrastructure in an attempt to prevent former prime minister Ariel Henry from returning to the country while abroad. They controlled over two dozen police stations, fired on the main airport, and released over 4,000 inmates from the country’s two largest prisons.
Henry resigned in late April and a transitional presidential council was formed, choosing U.N. official Garry Conille as prime minister.
Yet conflict continues.
“You did not distribute weapons in working-class neighborhoods,” said gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, addressing the new prime minister in a recent video.
“Do not play into the hands of traditional politicians and businessmen, who used violence for political and economic ends, and who now want to recover, by force, the weapons they had distributed. The problem that exists today can only be resolved through dialogue,” he added.
Court challenges and decreasing security in Haiti have caused delays in the arrival of the police force.
Before arriving in Haiti, the 400 officers of the first contingent saw a departure ceremony hosted for them.
“This mission is one of the most urgent, important and historic in the history of global solidarity. It is a mission to affirm the universal values of the community of nations, a mission to take a stand for humanity,” said Kenyan President William Ruto.
Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, Chad, and Bangladesh have also offered support, while the United States, France, and Canada have provided funding.
Some organizations and Haitian leaders have welcomed the police force.
“The government and the Haitian people hope this multinational mission will be the last one to help the county stabilize so it can renew its political personnel and return to an effective democracy,” said Haitian Prime Minister Conille on X.
“BINUH welcomes the arrival today of a first contingent from Kenya to support the Haitian National Police – it is a crucial step in the fight to restore security in the Haitian capital and its surroundings and protect the rights of Haitians,” posted the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) on X.
Others are less optimistic. Previous missions have not seen success, leaving allegations of dead civilians, a cholera outbreak, and a sexual abuse scandal.
The legal legitimacy of the agreement with the Kenyan government also remains a question.
“The ground for this application is that when the then-prime minister of Haiti was signing this agreement with Kenya, there was no known government in Haiti. The president had been assassinated; there were no elected leaders in Haiti. So where does he drive the mandate to negotiate an agreement on behalf of his country Haiti comes into question,” said Wallace Nderu, a lawyer and a program officer at ICJ Kenya, the International Commission of Jurists, a non-governmental, non-profit, member-based organization.
“So, concern is raised that this particular agreement is very secretive. We are not aware of the content of the agreement … it raises the legitimacy of the government deploying the police to Haiti,” he also told VOA, adding the agreements should be sent to the government publication the Kenya Gazette.
The recent arrival would be the fourth notable foreign military intervention in the country.
VOA’s Mariama Diallo contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
