On February 29, 2024, the prime minister of Haiti landed in Kenya in an attempt to reclaim a proposal for the country to send 1,000 police officers to the chaotic and impoverished nation to aid in the fight against gang violence.
Kenya consented in October to lead an international police force approved by the United Nations to Haiti; however, the proposal was declared unlawful in January by the Kenyan High Court, partly due to the absence of “reciprocal agreements” between the two nations.
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According to the office of Prime Minister Ariel Henry of Haiti, he is in Kenya at the request of President William Ruto to “finalize modalities” for agreements between the two nations over the deployment, which would involve the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police personnel to Haiti.
The court’s decision prohibiting Kenya’s National Police Service from being stationed abroad was also made public, though it was not immediately apparent how or if the agreements might get over that.
Henry and Ruto recently met in Nairobi’s State House.
Ruto said that Kenyans identify with Haitians due to a shared ancestry in a post on X, a platform that was originally Twitter. Ruto declared, “We are offering our police’s experience and expertise” for the planned Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti.
Even if the Kenyan government drafts a suitable agreement with Haiti, according to opposition leader Ekuru Aukot, who has legally opposed the deployment, the country’s prime minister does not have the authority to sign it.
Since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021, Henry has often promised to organize elections. However, he and other authorities claim that gang violence has prevented them from carrying out these pledges.
The general elections Henry has decided to hold by mid-2025, leaders of the Caribbean announced late on the 28th of February.
According to Aukot, he is also against the deployment because Kenya is dealing with security issues that need law enforcement involvement. Al-Shabab, an extremist organization with ties to al-Qaida and located in Somalia, is one of them. Since 2011, the group has attacked Kenya in retaliation for Kenya sending soldiers to combat the militants in Somalia. He has also mentioned the high crime rates in the northwest of Kenya, which include livestock rustling.
Human rights organizations have also pointed out that extrajudicial killings and other violations of human rights have long been linked to the Kenyan police.
Since President Moïse’s killing, there have been more gangs and political unrest in Haiti. Moïse was the target of rallies demanding his resignation due to allegations of corruption and the fact that his five-year tenure had run out.
In Haiti, there were over 8,400 documented cases of deaths, injuries, and kidnappings in 2023 – more than twice as many as in 2022. According to estimates, the gangs still struggle over territory, with up to 80% of Port-au-Prince falling under their jurisdiction.
