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Kenya, which leads the mission to quell gang violence in the
Caribbean nation, has sent nearly 400 officers. They are joined
by nearly two dozen police officers and soldiers from Jamaica,
but the numbers fall significantly short of the 2,500 pledged by
various countries, including Chad, Benin, Bangladesh and
Barbados, for the mission.
Kenyan President William Ruto, who met with Haiti Prime Minister
Garry Conille in Nairobi on Friday, said Kenya would deploy 600
additional officers next month.
The U.N. has $85 million in pledges for the mission, of which
$68 million has been received.
“We have a window of success that is evident from the operations
that have been carried out already,” Ruto said.
Conille asked international partners to send the officers they'd
pledged to ensure the “contingent from Kenya has the resources
they need.”
Conille said his regular meetings with the Kenyan commander were
filled with words of encouragement that the fight against
Haiti's gangs "is winnable.”
The gangs in Haiti have grown in power since the July 7, 2021
assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and are now estimated
to control up to 80% of the capital. The surge in killings,
rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian
vigilante groups.
A U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in early October to
extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force, after
brushing off a call from Haiti to start talks on transforming it
into a U.N. peacekeeping mission.
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