2023-09-21 15:48:33
NAIROBI (AP) — Kenya will lead a multinational force in Haiti to combat the gang war, according to its president’s commitment, although residents of both countries have questioned the plan promoted by Washington.
President William Ruto spoke on Wednesday at a ceremony establishing diplomatic relations with the Caribbean country. Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who attended the ceremony, had asked for a force to be sent a year ago.
“As the nation leading the UN-backed security mission in Haiti, we are committed to sending a specialized team to comprehensively assess the situation and formulate effective strategies to achieve long-term solutions,” Ruto said.
The gangs have dominated the Haitian police and, according to experts, control around 80% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
Schools in some areas have been closed because warring gangs rape and kill people. The violence has displaced some 200,000 Haitians, whose homes have been burned.
The United States has praised Kenya for simply applying to lead the U.N.-backed force when other countries hesitate, and Washington is drafting a U.N. Security Council resolution to authorize it. No deadlines have been announced for its presentation and voting. The Bahamas and Jamaica have offered their support to the force.
Several weeks ago, Kenya sent an assessment team to Haiti with the idea of installing 1,000 police personnel. Neither Kenya nor the United States have answered what Nairobi would get in exchange for leading that force, among other questions.
There are barely 10,000 police officers in Haiti, a country of more than 11 million inhabitants.
Some Kenyans and Haitians have expressed skepticism regarding a multinational force led by Kenyan police, accused by watchdog organizations of carrying out killings, torture and other abuses.
“Over the past year we have witnessed a wave of punitive repression of protests, extrajudicial killings, prisoner deaths, deliberate torture of children, interference with investigating authorities” and other violations, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit said in a report this month.
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