Kenyan President William Ruto is in the United States for a three-day state visit, the first such trip by an African leader since 2008.
When Ruto meets his counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday, top of his agenda will be a multinational security intervention in the troubled Caribbean nation of Haiti – a mission that Kenya is leading and Washington is supporting. support.
Although the US has refused to contribute forces to the UN-backed initiative, Washington has nevertheless become Kenya’s biggest supporter and the mission’s biggest funder, even as Nairobi faces internal challenges over the strategy.
The planned deployment of police to Haiti – a first for the East African country outside the continent – has sparked fierce debate in Kenya’s Parliament and its courts.
Here’s what we know about the planned mission, how Kenya got involved and why some are vehemently against it:
What is the background to the Haiti crisis?
The Caribbean nation has been wracked by violence in recent months after gangs declared war on former Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s government in February.
The UN says more than 2,500 people were killed or injured across the country between January and March, while at least 95,000 people fled the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Henry had pleaded with the UN Security Council last year to implement a mission that would bolster Haiti’s weak security forces and help crack down on rampant gang violence. For months, the Security Council was unable to find a country that could step up and lead such a mission, after a previous UN mission to Haiti was mired in controversy.
In mid-2023, it emerged that the US was considering supporting a Nairobi-led police mission and Kenyan authorities were weighing the proposal. It came as a surprise to many: Kenya has sent troops on missions inside and outside Africa, but no African country has ever led a security mission outside the continent, and a military deployment is more traditional than a police mission.
Kenyan officials highlighted the historical links between Haiti and Africa.
“Kenya supports people of African descent around the world,” said then-Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Mutua.
What is MSS?
On October 2, the UN Security Council voted in favor of motions by the US and Ecuador to send the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) to Haiti. It is not a UN mission, but is referred to as a “UN-supported initiative”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the mission “fundamental”. Washington pledged $300 million in funding, while Canada pledged $123 million to Haiti, of which $80.5 million was allocated to the mission.
The 2,500-strong force will be led by 1,000 Kenyans from the Administrative Police Unit and the combat-trained paramilitary General Service Unit, called Recce commandos. The commandos were previously tasked with quelling domestic unrest and participating in operations against Al-Shabab in neighboring Somalia.
Several other countries have also pledged police, including Benin, Bahamas, Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh and Chad.
Hundreds of Kenyan police officers have been receiving training and taking French classes in preparation for their deployment. Kenyans speak English, Swahili and other indigenous languages, while Haitian French and Creole are the official languages of Haiti.
This week, an advance team of Kenyan forces landed in Haiti, according to Kenyan media reports, coinciding with Ruto’s meeting with Biden.
The MSS will work in collaboration with the Haitian police. They will seek to quickly remove essential government infrastructure from gang control. High-ranking Kenyan police commander Noor Gabow will reportedly lead the mission.
Why is Kenya getting involved in Haiti and who is opposing the MSS?
The deployment faced fierce resistance from opposition lawmakers, human rights groups and Kenyan lawyers, but Ruto pressed ahead with the process. In January, he told reporters it was because the mission was “a greater calling for humanity.”
I had a telephone conversation with the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, about the events in Haiti. @SecBlinken informed me about the decision of the Summit of Caribbean Countries (Caricom) and the USA, together with other partners, on the political situation in Haiti.…
– William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) March 13, 2024
Opposition lawmakers accuse Ruto’s government of failing to protect Kenya and say the country is only part of the initiative for monetary gain. They also claim that the authorities are mobilizing the police in contradiction to the Constitution, which only allows military deployments.
After a lawmaker challenged the mission in court, a judge ruled in January that the government did not have jurisdiction to deploy police and that a special security agreement with Haiti would be necessary. It was this agreement that Henry was in Nairobi to sign in February, when the gangs declared war in the absence of the then Haitian Prime Minister, forcing him to resign and remain in exile in Puerto Rico.
Ruto’s government temporarily halted the rollout of the MSS in March following Henry’s resignation, but resumed plans following the recent appointment of a new transitional governing council in Haiti under new Prime Minister Fritz Belizaire.
However, despite Ruto’s maneuvers, opposition lawmakers in Kenya tabled another case to be heard in June.
Meanwhile, human rights activists point out that Kenya’s police force has long been accused of extrajudicial killings and torture. In July, police opened fire on people protesting against rising taxes and rising costs of living, killing at least 35 people.
Many in Haiti are also wary of foreign intervention. The 15-year-old UN mission has a tarnished legacy, plagued by accusations of sexual abuse against peacekeepers and accusations that they introduced cholera into the country.
Why did the US nominate Kenya and why is it not included in the MSS?
Washington has been adamant about not sending troops to Haiti, although officials have not given reasons. Despite “frenetic” exchanges by Haitian leaders for Washington to send an emergency unit at the height of the country’s recent violence, the US refused, promising to move quickly on sending MSS, according to US media.
However, US contractors have been in Haiti for weeks, building the base of operations that the MSS will use and securing supplies for the arriving police force. US officials have also been training personnel in Kenya for their deployment for months.
It is unclear how the US supported Kenya in the Haiti mission – one official said “Kenya threw up its hands” – but Washington has grown increasingly dependent on Nairobi for its security interests in the Horn of Africa in recent years. years. Kenya has a US base in Lamu County and cooperates with US forces fighting Al-Shabab in Somalia.
Although Washington’s friendly relations with Ethiopia soured after the latter’s two-year war and Washington criticized Uganda under President Yoweri Museveni for alleged human rights abuses, Nairobi has remained a staunch ally in the region.
However, there are disagreements about the mission in Haiti, analysts point out.
Kenya “demands that the US do more to gather financial support for the UN common fund that will cover the costs of the mission,” said Meron Elias, a researcher at the International Crisis Group.
“Kenya also wants the US to commit greater support to stem the flow of weapons to Haiti, including from US ports in Florida.”
What else will be on Biden and Ruto’s agenda?
Ruto’s state visit comes at a time when the US seeks to counter the growing influence of China and Russia in Africa. Washington is keen to show it is still in the game despite having recently been behind in the Sahel region. Niger and Chad recently sent US troops stationed in the country.
Kenya means business. We urge international companies to capitalize on the 60-year-old Kenya-US relationship, which is based on shared values of democracy, freedom and enterprise, to invest in Kenya.
A good return on investment is guaranteed, especially in our renewable energies… pic.twitter.com/SHsls7THMT
– William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) May 22, 2024
Meanwhile, Ruto is seeking more foreign investment to offset Kenya’s debts. The country barely managed to avoid defaulting on a $2 billion debt that was due in June. Most of Kenya’s external debt is owed to China. It took out huge loans to support major infrastructure projects, including a railway line between Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa.
“Kenya means business,” Ruto tweeted after meeting US business leaders in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday. Atlanta is home to companies such as Delta Air Lines, which is considering acquiring a major stake in national carrier Kenya Airways.
Climate finance for African countries, a cornerstone of Ruto’s foreign commitments, will also be in focus as Kenya and other East African countries have been dealing with deadly floods over the past month.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
