After almost a year of appeals from the prime minister of Haiti for armed intervention from abroad, the troubled country may soon receive such a deployment from an African nation.
Just days after announcing the withdrawal of nonemergency personnel from its embassy in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, and urging other Americans to leave, the United States stated on Monday that it would propose a resolution to the United Nations Security Council authorizing a multinational force to be sent to Haiti.
On Saturday, Kenya declared in a statement that it would “positively consider” leading such a force by dispatching 1,000 police officers to the Caribbean nation, which has become a hotbed of violence and political instability.
The prime minister of Haiti is widely seen as incompetent, with gangs having taken control of large areas of Port-au-Prince, and the police doing little to suppress the violence, resulting in the emergence of vigilante groups that have publicly targeted and killed suspected gang members.
After months of rampant gang-related homicides, kidnappings, and vigilante killings, dozens of people have sought refuge on the steps of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince in recent weeks.
Last week, an American nurse and her child were abducted. Haiti’s former president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in his home two years ago, but the country has been too engulfed in political turmoil and violence to elect a successor.
Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has been requesting international intervention for months, but the United States and other potential leading nations have shown little interest.
Kenya’s foreign minister, Alfred N. Mutua, stated that the Kenyan police would assist in training and supporting the Haitian police, restoring normalcy, and protecting “strategic installations.” Dr. Mutua said that Kenya “stands with persons of African descent across the world.”
The East African nation has experience in peacekeeping missions in other parts of the world, including Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It recently attempted, unsuccessfully, to broker an end to a war lasting over 100 days in Sudan.
Details of the Haiti mission will be finalized once the Security Council issues a mandate, the foreign minister said, adding that an assessment mission is expected in the coming weeks.
“Once they have conducted that assessment mission, they, as the lead of this multinational force, will talk with other partners about what additional type of assistance they need, what other countries might participate,” said Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department.
The United States is “committed to finding the resources to support this multinational force,” but it is too early to determine what those resources might be, he added.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated in a statement on Tuesday, “Our support for the people of Haiti remains unwavering.”
The United Nations expressed its approval of the move but emphasized that the force would be a “non-U.N. multinational force.”
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