Kenyan Politicians Petition Against Police Deployment to Haiti

NAIROBI, Xinhua: Kenyan politicians said on Saturday that they have filed a petition to the United Nations and the United States against the deployment of Kenyan police to Haiti.

The politicians, led by Ekuru Aukot, leader of the Thirdway Alliance Party, a political party in Kenya, said that there are better-suited countries to manage the mission to fight gang violence in Haiti.

“The United Nations Security Council should call upon other UN members that are geographically and linguistically close to offer the proposed service,” Aukot told journalists in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

The remarks came amid reports that Kenyan police officers scheduled to lead a multinational security support mission in the Caribbean nation are expected to finally leave the country next Sunday.

“The meddling and interference by other nations, especially the United States and its allies, remain the cause of the suffering of the people of Haiti,” Aukot said.

The Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti was authorized by the United Nations Security Council on Oct. 2, 2023, under Resolution 2699. In July 2023, Kenya volunteered to lead a multinational security force in Haiti to quell gang violence and later offered to send 1,000 officers to Haiti after the Caribbean nation requested international help to fight the gangs.

The Kenyan High Court once ruled that the deployment of Kenyan police, which is behind schedule, is illegal. In February, the court stopped the government from deploying police officers in Haiti, saying that the National Security Council, the government’s top security organ, does not have the legal power to deploy regular police outside of the country.