The News
NAIROBI — President William Ruto is pushing for the transition of the Kenya-led security mission in Haiti to a UN peacekeeping operation, amid mounting concerns about its effectiveness, funding and future.
The proposed transition featured in US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s phone call with Ruto last week. Ruto said the move was meant to “enhance the capability of the mission to help stabilize Haiti.”
The UN-backed multinational security mission was meant to help quell the gang violence in the island nation, but its impact has so far been limited.
UN special representative Maria Isabel Salvador told the UN Security Council in October that the situation in Haiti had “regrettably worsened” since July, with new peaks of “acute violence.” A 22% increase was recorded in the number of internally displaced persons in the island nation between August and October according to the UN.
A first contingent of 430 Kenyan police officers was deployed in June, with the number expected to rise to 2500 including more officers from Kenya and other countries. Salvador said the mission remains “critically under-resourced”, lacking adequate equipment and manpower.
In his statement following the phone call with Ruto, Blinken only revealed that he thanked Kenya for leading the mission, without discussing the proposed transition.
Know More
With the US having footed much of the bill for the Kenya-led mission so far, the future of its funding also appears unclear following the election of Donald Trump and Republican control of Congress when they take office in January. A shift to a UN peacekeeping operation would ostensibly unlock new sources of funding for the mission.
Republican lawmakers had previously stalled approvals for the mission’s funding. In a May letter to Blinken, House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch (R-Idaho) accused the Biden White House of “rushing to fund an undefined and indefinite engagement in Haiti without Congressional approval.”
According to various experts, the continued smuggling of weapons and ammunition into Haiti is also contributing to the rise in gang violence and expansion of their territories.
The firing of Prime Minister Gary Conneill on Sunday by Haiti’s Transitional Council pointed to further political turmoil in the country. Conneill will be replaced by Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The businessman is the son of Haitian activist Alix Fils-Aime, a former political prisoner under the authoritarian regime of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.