Avis mitigés sur le déploiement des forces de maintien de la paix en Haïti
Kenya - oct. 05, 2023 | 12h38 m.
Pendant ce temps, la violence des gangs armés se poursuit en Haïti. (PA)
Le déploiement d'une force de maintien de la paix dans le pays voisin a été remis en question avec le limogeage du ministre des Affaires étrangères du Kenya, Alfred Mutua, tandis que la controverse grandit dans cette république africaine sur le projet d'envoyer des policiers en Haïti pour lutter contre les gangs.
Mutua a été réaffecté au ministère du Tourisme dans le cadre du remaniement ministériel ordonné par le président William Ruto. Son limogeage intervient quelques jours après avoir longuement parlé de la force multinationale qui serait dirigée par 1 000 policiers kenyans et qui, selon lui, combattrait les gangs armés. Il était considéré comme le principal soutien de l'intervention du Kenya dans le drame haïtien.
Le principal leader de l'opposition, Raila Odinga, a été le dernier à s'opposer à cette décision, affirmant que le déploiement mettrait en danger la vie de la police kenyane.
Ruto a réaffecté Mutua au ministère du Tourisme et placé le ministère des Affaires étrangères sous la direction du premier secrétaire du Cabinet, qui rend compte à son proche allié, Musalia Mudavadi.
Cette décision est considérée comme une tentative de donner plus d'influence au cercle restreint de Ruto sur les questions diplomatiques.
Le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU a approuvé mardi le déploiement de cette force.
Ruto a salué sa décision mais n'a pas précisé quand la police serait dépêchée.
Certains parlementaires kenyans ont exigé l'approbation du Parlement avant le déploiement.
Les ministres de la Défense et de la Sécurité, restés silencieux sur le déploiement prévu en Haïti, n'ont pas été concernés par la réorganisation.
Odinga, dans une interview accordée au privé KTN News, a déclaré que la situation en Haïti était trop dangereuse pour la police kenyane.
"Lorsque les cercueils commenceront à arriver ici, nous le regretterons. Haïti est dangereux et il est possible que notre police y ait des problèmes", a déclaré le chef de l'opposition.
L'opposition au Kenya réclame l'approbation
Les législateurs kenyans ont déclaré mercredi que l'envoi de personnel policier à la mission de paix dirigée par le Kenya en Haïti nécessite l'approbation du Parlement. La mission de lutte contre la violence des gangs a été approuvée cette semaine par le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU.
Le député de l'opposition Anthony Oluoch a déclaré lors d'une séance à la chambre basse que le déploiement des troupes n'était pas conforme aux dispositions de la loi sur la police nationale.
Il a également déclaré que la sécurité du pays "doit primer sur tout engagement international", faisant allusion aux attaques du groupe extrémiste al-Shahab, filiale d'Al-Qaïda basée en Afrique de l'Est.
Un autre député, Junet Mohammed, a déclaré que le Parlement devait approuver la question "avant qu'un policier ne quitte le pays", ce qu'il a qualifié de "mission dangereuse" compte tenu du manque d'expérience de la police dans la lutte contre la criminalité locale.
Le Conseil de sécurité a approuvé lundi la mission de paix en Haïti et le président kenyan William Ruto a promis de "ne pas décevoir le peuple haïtien".
Le président américain a remercié mercredi Ruto d'avoir « répondu à la demande d'Haïti de servir de pays commandant la Mission multinationale de soutien à la sécurité (MSS) », selon la transcription de l'appel.
La constitution kenyane stipule que l’envoi d’une force nationale nécessite l’approbation du Parlement, et les missions militaires précédentes ont satisfait à cette exigence. Mais il n’est pas clair si les policiers constituent une force nationale.
Le président de la commission de la défense de l'Assemblée nationale, Nelson Koech, a déclaré à l'Associated Press lors d'un entretien téléphonique que la question serait probablement renvoyée à une commission mixte incluant la sécurité nationale avant d'être soumise au Parlement pour approbation.
Il a déclaré que la police kenyane est compétente et peut assumer cette mission, car "la situation en Haïti n'est pas celle de la guerre, mais celle de la violence des gangs".
Koech a déclaré que la sécurité intérieure du pays ne devrait pas l'empêcher de contribuer aux missions de paix mondiales et qu'il était « moralement juste » d'aider à restaurer la paix en Haïti.
https://www.diariolibre.com/mundo/resto-del-mundo/2023/10/05/controversia-crece-en-kenia-por-envio-de-policias-a-haiti/2482161?utm_source=relacionadas&utm_medium= note&utm_campaign=connexe
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est SUR LA MISSION DU KENYA EN HAITI. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est SUR LA MISSION DU KENYA EN HAITI. Afficher tous les articles
vendredi 6 octobre 2023
jeudi 28 septembre 2023
Deploying Kenyan police in Haiti is Unconstitutional
The issue of Haiti is now with the UN Security Council awaiting its Resolution.
In Summary
•It is also in the public domain that the US government has praised Kenya for the action it is about to undertake
•Our Constitution is also aware that our executive and the entire political leadership of our country has since independence acted as agents of neocolonialism and imperialism.
The Constitution is very clear that our foreign policy has to comply with the decrees of the Constitution. Foreign policy decisions by the government are unconstitutional when they violate any of the provisions of the Constitution.
Article 1 of our Constitution decrees that all sovereign power belongs to us, the Kenyan people.
Indeed, sovereign power is delegated to the national executive and can be exercised directly by the Kenyan people themselves. In exercising that power directly we demand that our sovereignty must never be used to subvert the sovereignty of another country without our participation and ultimate consent.
Article 10 of our Constitution provides for our national values and principles of governance. The values and principles implicated in the issue of Haiti are the following: patriotism, rule of law, participation of the people, inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.
The government by unilaterally sending a pre-mission of 10 people to Haiti to prepare the ground to send 1000 police women and men to Haiti before involving the Kenyan people, or their representatives in Parliament and Senate violated our sovereign power and the constitutional values and principles of governance. The issue of Haiti is now with the UN Security Council awaiting its Resolution.
There is no doubt that Kenya will deploy these troops if the Security Council approves the resolution. It is also in the public domain that the US Government has praised Kenya for the action it is about to undertake. Under our 2010 Constitution, our foreign policy is not exempt from its provisions.
The Constitution was passed to reign in an executive that was authoritarian, opaque, and known to continuously subvert the will of the Kenyan people. That is the political mischief and non-accountability of the executive that the Constitution sought to cure.
Since the promulgation of the Constitution on August 27, 2010, our executive has found the Constitution inconvenient for its dictatorial proclivities. Examples of violations of the rule of law by the executive are legion.
Public interest litigation has been used to resist the executive’s violations of the Constitution.
There have been many petitions filed in the High Court to seek compliance with the supreme law, the Constitution.
Our Constitution is also aware that our executive and the entire political leadership of our country has since independence acted as agents of neocolonialism and imperialism.
Neither the sovereign power of Kenyans nor the values and principles of governance were supposed to be abstract.
The Constitution expects the executive to constantly breathe life into these provisions.
The executive, under these provisions, is expected to resist foreign interests in our name if they violate our sovereign power and values.
Our political leadership and the executive it oversees are so loyal to foreign interests that it has not, even once, sought the help of the Kenyan people to resist foreign interests that seek to exploit, dominate, colonize, occupy, and humiliate our Motherland.
This class, the compradors which we also call the homewards, and Walalahai/Mabwenyenye/mafutamingis in Kiswahili has never sought the people’s help in this patriotic endeavour.
This explains why Haiti, trade pacts, foreign investments, and borrowings are done behind the backs of Kenyans.
And this is unconstitutional.
Foreign countries that subvert the dictates of our Constitution should not expect the Kenyan people to pay the unconstitutional loans that they gave the compradors in violation of the Constitution.
It is the same countries that pontificate about democracy, human rights, social justice, and the rule of law.
It smirks at double standards, hypocrisy, perfidy, and racism to validate these values as universal and then deny them to Kenyans.
We resist this inhuman imperialism which is done in the names of the American, European, Japanese, and Chinese people without their consent either.
Countries that oppress others also oppress their people.
That is why the 21st century is about the global solidarity of the people of the planet to rid it of the great inhumanity we all face economically, ecologically, socially, politically, spiritually, and culturally.
Kenyans must demand that our policemen should not be sent to Haiti.
We should demand that our 2010 Constitution should not be disobeyed and subverted.
We refuse a foreign policy in our name that we have not consented to. We demand that Kenya should stop fighting proxy wars for imperialism. We must also demand that the UN and the US must respect our sovereignty and our Constitution.
It is expected that these demands will not heeded so I suggest the human rights organizations doing public interest litigation should proceed to the High Court and get orders that the 1000 police women and men should not be deployed in Haiti. The constitutional arguments are clear.
And some questions for BABA: you have not been away when these matters and events have been taking place. Are these not issues that concern you? Are these not issues for mass action?
I note that you have said nothing about the trade pact being negotiated between Kenya and the US that we have not been allowed to participate in.
I believe it is abundantly clear what I have always argued in my column here, that our political leaders in the two political factions delight in being compradors.
History records Kenyans have had the will and the capacity to resist matters that are not in the national interest.
Kenyans will soon realize they are on their own because both the government and the opposition are birds of the same political feather.
https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/2023-09-28-mutunga-deploying-kenyan-police-in-haiti-is-unconstitutional/
The Constitution is very clear that our foreign policy has to comply with the decrees of the Constitution. Foreign policy decisions by the government are unconstitutional when they violate any of the provisions of the Constitution.
Article 1 of our Constitution decrees that all sovereign power belongs to us, the Kenyan people.
Indeed, sovereign power is delegated to the national executive and can be exercised directly by the Kenyan people themselves. In exercising that power directly we demand that our sovereignty must never be used to subvert the sovereignty of another country without our participation and ultimate consent.
Article 10 of our Constitution provides for our national values and principles of governance. The values and principles implicated in the issue of Haiti are the following: patriotism, rule of law, participation of the people, inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.
The government by unilaterally sending a pre-mission of 10 people to Haiti to prepare the ground to send 1000 police women and men to Haiti before involving the Kenyan people, or their representatives in Parliament and Senate violated our sovereign power and the constitutional values and principles of governance. The issue of Haiti is now with the UN Security Council awaiting its Resolution.
There is no doubt that Kenya will deploy these troops if the Security Council approves the resolution. It is also in the public domain that the US Government has praised Kenya for the action it is about to undertake. Under our 2010 Constitution, our foreign policy is not exempt from its provisions.
The Constitution was passed to reign in an executive that was authoritarian, opaque, and known to continuously subvert the will of the Kenyan people. That is the political mischief and non-accountability of the executive that the Constitution sought to cure.
Since the promulgation of the Constitution on August 27, 2010, our executive has found the Constitution inconvenient for its dictatorial proclivities. Examples of violations of the rule of law by the executive are legion.
Public interest litigation has been used to resist the executive’s violations of the Constitution.
There have been many petitions filed in the High Court to seek compliance with the supreme law, the Constitution.
Our Constitution is also aware that our executive and the entire political leadership of our country has since independence acted as agents of neocolonialism and imperialism.
Neither the sovereign power of Kenyans nor the values and principles of governance were supposed to be abstract.
The Constitution expects the executive to constantly breathe life into these provisions.
The executive, under these provisions, is expected to resist foreign interests in our name if they violate our sovereign power and values.
Our political leadership and the executive it oversees are so loyal to foreign interests that it has not, even once, sought the help of the Kenyan people to resist foreign interests that seek to exploit, dominate, colonize, occupy, and humiliate our Motherland.
This class, the compradors which we also call the homewards, and Walalahai/Mabwenyenye/mafutamingis in Kiswahili has never sought the people’s help in this patriotic endeavour.
This explains why Haiti, trade pacts, foreign investments, and borrowings are done behind the backs of Kenyans.
And this is unconstitutional.
Foreign countries that subvert the dictates of our Constitution should not expect the Kenyan people to pay the unconstitutional loans that they gave the compradors in violation of the Constitution.
It is the same countries that pontificate about democracy, human rights, social justice, and the rule of law.
It smirks at double standards, hypocrisy, perfidy, and racism to validate these values as universal and then deny them to Kenyans.
We resist this inhuman imperialism which is done in the names of the American, European, Japanese, and Chinese people without their consent either.
Countries that oppress others also oppress their people.
That is why the 21st century is about the global solidarity of the people of the planet to rid it of the great inhumanity we all face economically, ecologically, socially, politically, spiritually, and culturally.
Kenyans must demand that our policemen should not be sent to Haiti.
We should demand that our 2010 Constitution should not be disobeyed and subverted.
We refuse a foreign policy in our name that we have not consented to. We demand that Kenya should stop fighting proxy wars for imperialism. We must also demand that the UN and the US must respect our sovereignty and our Constitution.
It is expected that these demands will not heeded so I suggest the human rights organizations doing public interest litigation should proceed to the High Court and get orders that the 1000 police women and men should not be deployed in Haiti. The constitutional arguments are clear.
And some questions for BABA: you have not been away when these matters and events have been taking place. Are these not issues that concern you? Are these not issues for mass action?
I note that you have said nothing about the trade pact being negotiated between Kenya and the US that we have not been allowed to participate in.
I believe it is abundantly clear what I have always argued in my column here, that our political leaders in the two political factions delight in being compradors.
History records Kenyans have had the will and the capacity to resist matters that are not in the national interest.
Kenyans will soon realize they are on their own because both the government and the opposition are birds of the same political feather.
https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/2023-09-28-mutunga-deploying-kenyan-police-in-haiti-is-unconstitutional/
Ex-CS Wamalwa questions Haiti mission amid al Shabaab threat
Kenya has offered to deploy 1,000 police officers to Haiti to battle criminal gangs.
In Summary
• Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua said on Tuesday the officers have already started learning French.
• In a press statement at his office, Mutua said the government has started planning logistics, required equipment and psychological preparedness for the personnel. Whereas Wamalwa welcomed the Kenya-US cooperation on defence, he said it beats logic that Kenya has offered to help Haiti deal with growing insecurity by criminal gangs while the Somali-based militants still pose a risk to the country.
"Strengthening of Kenya-US Defence cooperation framework and partnership in the war against terror, during Lloyd Austin visit, is welcome, but Kenyans are asking whether it’s in our National interest to deploy our officers to Haiti while facing resurgent al Shabaab insecurity and economic crisis," Wamalwa said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Kenya has offered to deploy 1,000 police officers to Haiti as part of Multinational Security Support with the deployment expected in October should the United Nations Security Council approve the deployment.
But even as the country awaits the deployment, Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua said on Tuesday the officers have already started learning French.
In a press statement at his office, Mutua said the government has started planning logistics, required equipment and psychological preparedness for the personnel.
"We expect the UN mandate within the next few weeks. After that, we will deploy to Haiti. We have also started teaching some of our officers French as well," the CS said. Kenya will receive $100 million (Sh14.7 billion) from the United States of America in support of the mission, Mutua said, assuring that no taxpayer funds will be used on the mission.
He spoke a day after his Defence counterpart Aden Duale signed the Kenya-US Defence Cooperation Framework with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. The framework defines the collaborative role of the two countries in combating their shared security challenges.
On Tuesday, Duale accompanied Lloyd to the Kenya Navy Base in Manda which equally hosts the US Forces.
"We were pleased with the synergy exhibited by our two Forces in executing their mandates. Further, we underscored the importance of this mutual relation in fostering regional and international peace and security," he said.
Back to Haiti, the former French colony has been experiencing an upsurge in crime rates perpetrated by organised criminal gangs that have caused havoc in the country for decades.
Former US special envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote said in a previous interview that the gangs were started by former leader Jean-Bertrande Aristide in the 1980s to offer protection rackets "as a way to get some power" for ordinary Haitians.
But the gangs called Chimères, have since morphed after former soldiers from the Haitian military which was disbanded under Aristide’s second period in office between 1994 to 1996, joined in.
UN peacekeepers failed to contain the gangs from growing with the 2010 earthquake further worsening the situation after imprisoned gang members escaped and either joined old neighbourhood gangs or formed new groups
. The latest attack was reported on Tuesday in Mirebalais, a commune in the Centre department of Haiti, approximately 60 km northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Reports indicate that armed individuals attacked the Hopital Universitaire de Mirebalais, one of the main hospitals in the country.
Gangs also attacked a police station in the nearby town of Saut-d'Eau, killing at least ten people on Friday, September 22.
A draft document by the US indicates that Kenya's role in Haiti will be three-pronged; provision of operational support against gangs, guarding installations and training Haitian police.
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-09-26-ex-cs-wamalwa-questions-haiti-mission-amid-al-shabaab-threat/
• In a press statement at his office, Mutua said the government has started planning logistics, required equipment and psychological preparedness for the personnel. Whereas Wamalwa welcomed the Kenya-US cooperation on defence, he said it beats logic that Kenya has offered to help Haiti deal with growing insecurity by criminal gangs while the Somali-based militants still pose a risk to the country.
"Strengthening of Kenya-US Defence cooperation framework and partnership in the war against terror, during Lloyd Austin visit, is welcome, but Kenyans are asking whether it’s in our National interest to deploy our officers to Haiti while facing resurgent al Shabaab insecurity and economic crisis," Wamalwa said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Kenya has offered to deploy 1,000 police officers to Haiti as part of Multinational Security Support with the deployment expected in October should the United Nations Security Council approve the deployment.
But even as the country awaits the deployment, Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua said on Tuesday the officers have already started learning French.
In a press statement at his office, Mutua said the government has started planning logistics, required equipment and psychological preparedness for the personnel.
"We expect the UN mandate within the next few weeks. After that, we will deploy to Haiti. We have also started teaching some of our officers French as well," the CS said. Kenya will receive $100 million (Sh14.7 billion) from the United States of America in support of the mission, Mutua said, assuring that no taxpayer funds will be used on the mission.
He spoke a day after his Defence counterpart Aden Duale signed the Kenya-US Defence Cooperation Framework with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. The framework defines the collaborative role of the two countries in combating their shared security challenges.
On Tuesday, Duale accompanied Lloyd to the Kenya Navy Base in Manda which equally hosts the US Forces.
"We were pleased with the synergy exhibited by our two Forces in executing their mandates. Further, we underscored the importance of this mutual relation in fostering regional and international peace and security," he said.
Back to Haiti, the former French colony has been experiencing an upsurge in crime rates perpetrated by organised criminal gangs that have caused havoc in the country for decades.
Former US special envoy to Haiti Daniel Foote said in a previous interview that the gangs were started by former leader Jean-Bertrande Aristide in the 1980s to offer protection rackets "as a way to get some power" for ordinary Haitians.
But the gangs called Chimères, have since morphed after former soldiers from the Haitian military which was disbanded under Aristide’s second period in office between 1994 to 1996, joined in.
UN peacekeepers failed to contain the gangs from growing with the 2010 earthquake further worsening the situation after imprisoned gang members escaped and either joined old neighbourhood gangs or formed new groups
. The latest attack was reported on Tuesday in Mirebalais, a commune in the Centre department of Haiti, approximately 60 km northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Reports indicate that armed individuals attacked the Hopital Universitaire de Mirebalais, one of the main hospitals in the country.
Gangs also attacked a police station in the nearby town of Saut-d'Eau, killing at least ten people on Friday, September 22.
A draft document by the US indicates that Kenya's role in Haiti will be three-pronged; provision of operational support against gangs, guarding installations and training Haitian police.
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-09-26-ex-cs-wamalwa-questions-haiti-mission-amid-al-shabaab-threat/
Tread with caution in push for Haiti mission
Sunday, September 24, 2023
By Editorial
The choice of Kenya to lead the UN Haiti peace mission is a vote of confidence in its role in international diplomacy. However, the 1,000 Kenyan police officers will be going into a country that has reached a breaking point while other nations have opted out of the risky business.
Haiti descended into chaos in July 2021 after mercenaries assassinated President Jovenel Moïse. Today, armed gangs control more than 80 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where our police officers will be based. They will join and lead about 10,000 Haiti police overpowered by marauding gangs.
The Kenyans will be heading a UN unit to stabilise a country that has been left at the mercy of unruly mobs. For a country that has distinguished itself in international peacekeeping, this is yet another assignment it is determined to deliver.
President William Ruto sought a unified approach to solve the Haiti crisis during the just-concluded 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
As President Ruto put it, Kenya is committed to helping people still suffering from a bitter legacy of slavery, colonialism, sabotage and neglect. This case is the ultimate test of international solidarity and collective action.
Haitians have been let down by the international community, which has left the South American nation in utter despair. Kenya’s engagement took a major step forward following a high-powered fact-finding mission after President Ruto agreed to get fully involved and help resolve the Haiti crisis sparked by political instability, a devastating earthquake and humanitarian challenges.
However, this is a potentially dangerous situation that Kenya is getting into, but which calls for caution. Already, the country is engaged in the African Union mission to stabilise Somalia, which remains a big burden. This new Kenya-led UN mission should be carefully handled to avoid getting entangled in another deadly mess.
Haiti has been ravaged by political instability, a devastating earthquake and humanitarian challenges that require international support to address numerous issues.
There is widespread poverty, food shortages, inadequate healthcare and limited access to education, human rights abuses and corruption. The people urgently need basic services, including water, sanitation and electricity.
Mission Haiti no walk in the park, Kenya told
Valerie Baeriswyl | AFP
By Francis Mureithi & Aggrey Mutambo
Kenya may be part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission to Haiti as soon as November if the United Nations Security Council approves the deployment. According to a draft text fronted by the US and backed by Ecuador, Kenya’s role will be in a three-part service – providing operational support against gangs, guarding installations and training Haitian police.
Residents protest the killing of six police officers by armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 26. The officers died in the town of Liancourt on January 25 after a fierce battle with gunmen who had tried to take over a police station.
Richard Pierrin| AFP
The offers and process of seeking approvals look legally sound, but come on the back of questions, top of which is whether the MSS is any different from the previous five foreign missions in Haiti.
Also read: Nearly 90 dead in Haiti gang violence, as country slides into chaos
The UN, the US, Canada and France have deployed soldiers to Haiti before.
“People face attacks by armed gangs controlling areas in the capital or provincial towns. They assassinate, set fires, steal and abuse with cruelty. They drive citizens from their homes, block roads and force schools, hospitals and businesses to close,” Haitian PM Ariel Henry told the UN on Friday.
Celebrated for becoming the first Black majority country to defeat slavers and colonialists in the 19th century, Haiti’s history has been replete with coups, criminal gangs and assassination of presidents.
President Juvenal Moïse was shot dead at his palace in Porto au Prince in July 2021.
President Ruto meets with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry for bilateral talks in New York
The MSS has been endorsed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the regional bloc to which Haiti is a member. Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas and Jamaica pledged personnel for the mission.
President William Ruto this week said the world had let Haiti down.
“Haiti deserves better. The cry of our brothers and sisters...has reached our ears and touched our hearts. Doing nothing is out of question,” he told the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
“Inaction is no longer an option. As we mobilise to show up for Ukraine, and countries that have experienced the devastating impact of climate shocks including Libya, Morocco and Hawaii, we must not leave Haiti behind.”
Previous missions left a bitter taste in the mouths of Haitians and the Caribbean.
David Abdulah, a member of the Regional Executive Committee of the Assembly of the Caribbean People, says Haiti’s experience means the MSS may make the crisis worse. “It is clear that Kenya is being promoted as a proxy since the countries of the Core Group – the US, Canada and France – recognise that resentment to their military intervention would be immense,” he wrote on behalf of the Assembly to the CARICOM, on September 5.
“We need to appreciate the dynamics of the Haitian society and the fact that there is an elite that wields significant power. Henry and any successor to him established through an electoral process that is not free or fair will enable the elites maintain their hold on power – to the satisfaction of the Core Group.”
Kenya has not explained the direct benefits it would accrue from the mission.
“The stability and prosperity of Haiti would not only be beneficial to her neighbours and the region but would be a force for good for global peace and security architecture,” Foreign Affairs and Diaspora CS Alfred Mutua said on Friday.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said the US would provide $100 million in direct support to MSS, if Congress approves.
“Our Department of Defence is prepared to provide robust enabling support – including planning assistance, intelligence support, airlift, communications and medical support,” Blinken said and called on more donors to join.
When CARICOM endorsed the MSS in July, protests ensued in Haiti. Gangs in Haiti called for Henry’s removal on Friday.
Also read: Troubled Haiti set to get election results
The MSS has been opposed by some activists in the US. The Black Alliance for Peace, a rights lobby, accuses Kenya of insisting on leading “a foreign armed intervention in Haiti”.
“It is nothing more than military occupation. An occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face,” the group said. “The Kenyan government is assisting in undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of Haitian people, while serving the neo-colonial interests of the US, the Core Group and the UN.”
Blinken said the US has learnt from past missions.
“We remain mindful of the lessons from previous missions in Haiti, including the need to safeguard rights and to promote accountability,” he said.
“We also recognise that improved security must be accompanied by progress to resolve the political crisis.”
The US already asked its nationals to leave Haiti.
Henry told the UN that he is ready to allow a peaceful democratic process and see young people and women play a role in civil society.
“Only a legitimate government elected in free, honest, democratic and transparent elections will have the strength to tackle the economic, territorial, social and institutional challenges we face,” he said.
https://nation.africa/kenya/news/mission-haiti-no-walk-in-the-park-kenya-told-4378664
By Francis Mureithi & Aggrey Mutambo
Kenya may be part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission to Haiti as soon as November if the United Nations Security Council approves the deployment. According to a draft text fronted by the US and backed by Ecuador, Kenya’s role will be in a three-part service – providing operational support against gangs, guarding installations and training Haitian police.
Residents protest the killing of six police officers by armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 26. The officers died in the town of Liancourt on January 25 after a fierce battle with gunmen who had tried to take over a police station.
Richard Pierrin| AFP
The offers and process of seeking approvals look legally sound, but come on the back of questions, top of which is whether the MSS is any different from the previous five foreign missions in Haiti.
Also read: Nearly 90 dead in Haiti gang violence, as country slides into chaos
The UN, the US, Canada and France have deployed soldiers to Haiti before.
“People face attacks by armed gangs controlling areas in the capital or provincial towns. They assassinate, set fires, steal and abuse with cruelty. They drive citizens from their homes, block roads and force schools, hospitals and businesses to close,” Haitian PM Ariel Henry told the UN on Friday.
Celebrated for becoming the first Black majority country to defeat slavers and colonialists in the 19th century, Haiti’s history has been replete with coups, criminal gangs and assassination of presidents.
President Juvenal Moïse was shot dead at his palace in Porto au Prince in July 2021.
President Ruto meets with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry for bilateral talks in New York
The MSS has been endorsed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the regional bloc to which Haiti is a member. Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas and Jamaica pledged personnel for the mission.
President William Ruto this week said the world had let Haiti down.
“Haiti deserves better. The cry of our brothers and sisters...has reached our ears and touched our hearts. Doing nothing is out of question,” he told the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
“Inaction is no longer an option. As we mobilise to show up for Ukraine, and countries that have experienced the devastating impact of climate shocks including Libya, Morocco and Hawaii, we must not leave Haiti behind.”
Previous missions left a bitter taste in the mouths of Haitians and the Caribbean.
David Abdulah, a member of the Regional Executive Committee of the Assembly of the Caribbean People, says Haiti’s experience means the MSS may make the crisis worse. “It is clear that Kenya is being promoted as a proxy since the countries of the Core Group – the US, Canada and France – recognise that resentment to their military intervention would be immense,” he wrote on behalf of the Assembly to the CARICOM, on September 5.
“We need to appreciate the dynamics of the Haitian society and the fact that there is an elite that wields significant power. Henry and any successor to him established through an electoral process that is not free or fair will enable the elites maintain their hold on power – to the satisfaction of the Core Group.”
Kenya has not explained the direct benefits it would accrue from the mission.
“The stability and prosperity of Haiti would not only be beneficial to her neighbours and the region but would be a force for good for global peace and security architecture,” Foreign Affairs and Diaspora CS Alfred Mutua said on Friday.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said the US would provide $100 million in direct support to MSS, if Congress approves.
“Our Department of Defence is prepared to provide robust enabling support – including planning assistance, intelligence support, airlift, communications and medical support,” Blinken said and called on more donors to join.
When CARICOM endorsed the MSS in July, protests ensued in Haiti. Gangs in Haiti called for Henry’s removal on Friday.
Also read: Troubled Haiti set to get election results
The MSS has been opposed by some activists in the US. The Black Alliance for Peace, a rights lobby, accuses Kenya of insisting on leading “a foreign armed intervention in Haiti”.
“It is nothing more than military occupation. An occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face,” the group said. “The Kenyan government is assisting in undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of Haitian people, while serving the neo-colonial interests of the US, the Core Group and the UN.”
Blinken said the US has learnt from past missions.
“We remain mindful of the lessons from previous missions in Haiti, including the need to safeguard rights and to promote accountability,” he said.
“We also recognise that improved security must be accompanied by progress to resolve the political crisis.”
The US already asked its nationals to leave Haiti.
Henry told the UN that he is ready to allow a peaceful democratic process and see young people and women play a role in civil society.
“Only a legitimate government elected in free, honest, democratic and transparent elections will have the strength to tackle the economic, territorial, social and institutional challenges we face,” he said.
https://nation.africa/kenya/news/mission-haiti-no-walk-in-the-park-kenya-told-4378664
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