Kenya Police in Haiti
- Thread starter Young_Turk
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Young_Turk
Elder Lister
What has Kenya offered?
Kenyan Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua said on Saturday that the East African country is ready to deploy 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haiti’s police to “restore normalcy in the country and protect strategic installations”.
Mutua said in a post on social media that Kenya’s “proposed deployment will crystalize” once it gets a mandate from the UN Security Council “and other Kenyan constitutional processes are undertaken”.
The minister also said that a Kenyan police team would undertake an “assessment mission” in the coming weeks to “inform and guide the mandate and operational requirements” of a mission to Haiti.
How did Haiti respond?
“Haiti appreciates this expression of African solidarity,” Haitian Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus said in a statement on Sunday, “and looks forward to welcoming Kenya’s proposed evaluation mission.”
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Video Duration 02 minutes 40 seconds02:40
Haiti: Fight against gangs overshadows Flag Day festivitiesHow did the UN and other countries respond?
Guterres welcomed the Kenyan pledge, saying he “values Kenya’s consideration to possibly lead a non-UN multinational force”, according to UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.
“The Secretary-General reiterates his call to the Security Council to support such a non-UN international operation and encourages member states, particularly from the region, to join forces with Kenya,” Haq said on Monday.
Canada, which had previously pledged $75m ($100m Canadian) for Haiti’s police, among other support, also hailed Kenya’s offer.
“We stand ready to work with Kenya and all partners to ensure the success of the upcoming reconnaissance mission and any subsequent possible deployment under UNSC mandate,” the Canadian ambassador to Haiti, Sebastien Carriere, said on Tuesday.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that Washington, for its part, is “committed to finding the resources to support this multinational force”.
“I think it’s too early to get into new details about what those resources might be. But after the Kenyans have conducted their initial assessment mission we will of course be in contact with them,” Miller said.
Interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who assumed the post following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, called on the international community to set up a “specialised armed force” in Haiti in October of last year.
The request, which enjoyed the support of Henry’s cabinet, came amid a surge in gang violence in Haiti, including a gang blockade of a key fuel terminal in the capital, Port-au-Prince, that caused widespread shortages and skyrocketing prices of basic goods.
Henry said at the time that the “immediate deployment” of such a force was needed to address “the humanitarian crisis caused by, among other things, the insecurity resulting from the criminal actions of armed gangs and their sponsors”.
The request also came as demonstrations against the government, fuelled by the violence and high cost of living, had grown. In May, the UN said about five million people – half of Haiti’s population – were facing hunger.
Why are some Haitians against international intervention?
Wariness over foreign deployments stretches back to Haiti’s independence from France in the 1800s.
The country has seen numerous foreign interventions since then, including a 1915 invasion by US Marines that began a 19-year occupation and a US mission in the 1990s to remove a Haitian military government following a coup.
More recently, UN deployments in Haiti have widely been viewed as failures: UN peacekeepers sent to the country after a devastating 2010 earthquake were linked to a cholera outbreak that killed about 10,000 people, and UN troops who withdrew from the country in 2019 also have been linked to sexual violence against Haitian women and girls.
Civil society groups cited those past interventions – as well as fears that another foreign-led mission could prop up corrupt Haitian officials – in rejecting Henry’s October 2022 appeal for the armed force.
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Video Duration 02 minutes 20 seconds02:20
UN chief calls for international force in Haiti during visit
“It’s a bit like repeating the same mistakes,” Rosy Auguste Ducena, a lawyer and programme director at the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) in Haiti, told Al Jazeera last year.
Civil society groups also have condemned international support for Henry, who in 2021 indefinitely postponed presidential and legislative elections. In February, the prime minister formally installed a transition council meant to prepare for the long-overdue vote, which he stressed could not take place until safety is restored in the country.
What have the rights groups suggested instead?
In June, a group of leading Haitian human rights and civil society groups said it supported “an urgent, rights-based response” from the international community.
But they said such a response should support a transitional government, be focused on building up the country’s woefully under-resourced national police, and stop the flow of arms to Haiti.
“An essential first step is to stop propping up the set of actors who created the crises facing the country, including those currently in power,” the groups said (PDF).
What comes next?
It remains unclear when the US and Ecuador will put forward the UN Security Council resolution to authorise a Kenyan-led mission to Haiti. But Miller at the State Department said on Monday that it would happen in the near future.
It also remains unclear what other countries would participate in the mission – and in what capacity – should it be given a green light.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Young_Turk
Elder Lister
Curious what you lot make of this move by KK Government to send police to Haiti?
My take on it is the long term result.
These cops will come back to Kenya with new ideas and experiences.
Because they will DEFINETLY need to use paramilitary techniques to keep the peace, won't this come back to bite us in the long term?
These cops, trained by the FBI and French foreign legion (I assume) will employ these tactics against the people.
Maybe even the government?
Ama nizime hii kitu?
My take on it is the long term result.
These cops will come back to Kenya with new ideas and experiences.
Because they will DEFINETLY need to use paramilitary techniques to keep the peace, won't this come back to bite us in the long term?
These cops, trained by the FBI and French foreign legion (I assume) will employ these tactics against the people.
Maybe even the government?
Ama nizime hii kitu?
pop in
Elder Lister
This will be an INTERNATIONAL disaster ruto atumie ujanja given its a multinational force kenyan cops waende leoganne or cap haiten huko ni safer the capital port au prince will be a slaughterhouse huko ni gangs tupu na hapo ndio wanakulia they will not just sit by waone chapati ikitolewe kwa mdomo.Yote tisa kumi interventions have not worked in Haiti they will not work now
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Young_Turk
Elder Lister
Yup. Since the 1700's. Interventions NEVER worked in Haiti.
I think the USA is trying to avoid a similar embarrassment to AFGHANISTAN,VIETNAM,CAMBODIA,LAOS,IRAQ, etc
Trillions of dollars, thousands of lives later and NO difference.
This is why I like UHURU. This guy was a drunk. But he was also very exposed on matters international.
Our chicken farmer is OUT OF HIS DEPTH!
Young_Turk
Elder Lister
Also, these gangs assassinated their own President!!
Imagine ghetto youths wafike StateHouse, wamalize Ruto and that was that!
The poor sobs unfortunate enough to be stuck with this assignment will know how sweet home is.
Cortedivoire
Elder Lister
Atleast watakula madem Haitians mkia
pop in
Elder Lister
Kidnappings Haiti ni biashara it is a given fact that kenyans cops will be kidnapped then ransom demands will be made this is where it will get interesting juu itachukua an international angle will the US be involved given the complexity of the mission the major one being language barrier
Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
If one is kidnapped they better use their jimmy bond skills coz their govt and the Yues will say they don't negotiate with terrorists.
Young_Turk
Elder Lister
Negotiate for a black man? Did you just come to know Uncle Sam?
Ata wa Saudi hatuwatambui. Hawa ni gone case if taken hostage.
DonTech
New Lister
It will be successful. They need to pursue a political solution by making the top gang leader part of the transition government in exchange for him getting his gang members off key government institutions and stopping any more human population displacement. He will join the government and he will disband his gang. That's the easiest way to manage Haiti
Tiiga Waana
Elder Lister
Ruto is sacrificing the lives of Kenyans purely for money and fame.
The good thing is that this will be his unmaking.
When body bags ( God forbid) start arriving at JKIA that’s when Kenyans will turn against him in large numbers.
Mind you since there is no direct connection between Nairobi and Haiti, the bodies will be decomposed beyond recognition.
Watch this space.
The good thing is that this will be his unmaking.
When body bags ( God forbid) start arriving at JKIA that’s when Kenyans will turn against him in large numbers.
Mind you since there is no direct connection between Nairobi and Haiti, the bodies will be decomposed beyond recognition.
Watch this space.
pop in
Elder Lister
Ngumu kama ni kawa policing kama ile ya mtaa ati wana patrol the capital port au prince then ngojea breaking news kila siku soma this from the UN themselves
"A major sticking point has always been which country would step forward to lead what could be a very complicated and risky mission. Media reports suggest that gangs exert some control over around 80 per cent of the capital and the Haitian Prime Minister said that there were 162 armed groups with 3,000 “soldiers” across the country"
Explainer: Why Haiti is calling for a new international mission
The establishment of a multinational security support mission for Haiti is being discussed this week by the UN Security Council as the Caribbean nation continues to face a crisis of violence and insecurity caused by entrenched criminal gang activity
Clemens
Elder Lister
Wewe upelekwe Haiti. Then you update us from the ground. And you learn French first since that is what they use.Top level lobbying going on
agreed, it has worked in many places.