Kenya, US signs new pact to fight terrorism

GOOBJOOG NEWS | NAIROBI: Kenya and the United states have signed a new pact that will see Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers trained and provided with financial and technical assistance over the next five years.

“The agreement will also see the two countries collaborate on peace and security efforts within the country and in the region, including the planned deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti,” US Secretary of Defence Lloyd James Austin III said at a press briefing in Nairobi yesterday.

Austin also added that both countries have had crucial partnership in the fight against the security challenges in the region posed by the Al-shabaab militants and Kenya’s move to offer to lead the multi-national peace mission in Haiti where the United States announced that it is prepared to provide up to Ksh14.8 billion ($100.3 million) in addition to technical assistance to the mission in Haiti once it is approved by the UN Security Council.

Following parliamentary approval, Kenyan police officers from specialised units of the Administrative Police will leave for the Caribbean country in the next few months to tackle armed gangs that control areas in the capital and provincial towns.