Haiti\u2019s interim Prime Minister Garry Conille has vowed to end lawlessness with the help of a Kenyan-led international force deployed to the Caribbean nation.<\/p>\n
The arrival of 400 Kenyan police officers, in the first tranche of an international force, was a \u201cunique opportunity\u201d to restore order, Mr Conille said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want no-one to doubt the purpose of the mission. The state will regain power and reaffirm its authority so all Haitians can live peacefully in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rocked by decades of instability, the Caribbean nation has seen an escalation of violence following the assassination of President Jovenel Mo\u00efse three years ago.<\/p>\n
US President Joe Biden also welcomed the deployment, saying the Kenyan-led mission offered the \u201cbest chance\u201d to achieve democratic governance in Haiti.<\/p>\n
But there is fierce opposition in Kenya to the deployment \u2013 not least because police are accused of brutality in their own country, the latest example being the fatal shooting of protesters\u00a0in the capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The unrest in Nairobi came a day after President William Ruto saw off the officers, in what he described as a \u201chistoric\u201d mission of solidarity.<\/p>\n
Rival armed groups took control of the capital, Port-au-Prince, earlier this year, forcing Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign weeks later.<\/p>\n
Armed gangs now control an estimated 80% of the city.<\/p>\n
A \u201crobust use of force\u201d is needed to tackle them, says the UN, which has approved a policing mission made up of 2,500 officers from various countries \u2013 including 1,000 pledged by President Ruto, though only 400 have so far been deployed.<\/p>\n
Working with Haitian police, and headquartered at a US-built base, the Kenyan officers will aim to take back key sites that have fallen under the control of gangs, including the nearby airport and sea ports.<\/p>\n
Haiti has not had an election since 2016. So elections are to be organised within a year, and to allow that to happen, the Kenyan-led mission is being tasked with restoring security.<\/p>\n
Their deployment has been authorised for one year, with a review to be held after nine months.<\/p>\n
How dangerous are the gangs in Haiti?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gang violence on average killed or injured more than one person per hour in the first three months of this year, according to UN data.<\/p>\n Close to 600,000 Haitians have been forced from their homes, according to the UN\u2019s migration agency.<\/p>\n Schools and police stations have in some places been turned into shelters by families fleeing the violence.<\/p>\n Haiti\u2019s police force has just 9,000 officers. By contrast, it is estimated that as many as 8,000 Haitians belong to 200 or so armed gangs \u2013 with roles ranging from commanders to informants. Recruitment has increased in recent years.<\/p>\n The gangs now have as much firepower as the police, says Emmanuel Paul, a security adviser who works with humanitarian groups in Haiti.<\/p>\n \u201cVirtually the same types of weapons are used on both sides \u2013 classic assault rifles, AK-47 Kalashnikovs of various makes,\u201d he tells the BBC.<\/p>\n Colombia\u2019s President Gustavo Petro has even accused the military in his country of selling missiles and ammunition to armed men, who could have smuggled them into Haiti.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are doing it for the people of Haiti. The responsibility for security in Haiti is a shared responsibility,\u201d says Mr Ruto.<\/p>\n But critics say Kenya is merely doing the bidding of the US and hopes to curry favour with the superpower, especially on the security front.<\/p>\n On a recent visit to Washington, Mr Ruto also mentioned wanting to boost Kenya\u2019s international standing in this arena.<\/p>\n The East African nation\u2019s subsequent designation as a major non-Nato ally by the US has certainly achieved that.<\/p>\n But at home, President Ruto is facing significant opposition and Kenya\u2019s High Court has ruled that the deployment is unlawful. This delayed the arrival of the first officers.<\/p>\n The court stated that the Kenyan government had no authority to send police officers abroad without a prior reciprocal agreement.<\/p>\n Such an agreement was signed on 1 March, but opposition party Thirdway Alliance Kenya has filed a fresh lawsuit, arguing that the deployment remains in breach of the law.<\/p>\n \u201cThis mission is sanctioned by the United Nations (UN). The request came from the UN and the US. There is no request by Haiti, neither is there one that is capable of being put in place,\u201d says Charles Midega, a lawyer for the petitioners.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president has not followed the procedure as per the Kenyan constitution and laws on deployment. And most importantly, the president has not gazetted Haiti as a reciprocating country as a pre-requisite for deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n Are Kenya\u2019s police ready for this kind of mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n Although Kenya has a history of taking part in peacekeeping missions, its police force has never set foot outside Africa.<\/p>\n It is believed that the deployed unit will come from the General Service Unit (GSU), a paramilitary wing often deployed during demonstrations and terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n It has not previously been used against international criminal networks like the Haitian gangs.<\/p>\n But the Kenyan government said the deployed officers had received specialised training, including lessons in French and Haitian creole to ease communication with their counterparts.<\/p>\n Another hurdle in sight will be the chain of command.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are going to be Kenyan police, but other countries are sending soldiers,\u201d says Mr Paul.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s going to be the first headache of the mission \u2013 how to coordinate the police and the military, given that they have different training backgrounds and have different missions.\u201d<\/p>\n Newly appointed commander Godfrey Otunge will be spearheading the Kenyan taskforce and will have a big task on his hands.<\/p>\n How effective are Kenya\u2019s police?<\/strong><\/p>\n Kenya\u2019s police officers have long been criticised for human rights abuses, and several rights groups have expressed concerns about their deployment to Haiti.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, police in Kenya\u2019 capital, Nairobi, were accused of using live rounds against anti-tax hike protesters.<\/p>\n The Kenya Medical Association said that at least 13 people were killed.<\/p>\n Mr Ruto defended the police, saying \u201clegitimate\u201d protests had been \u201chijacked by a group of organised criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n In a letter to the UN Security Council last August, Amnesty International highlighted the Kenyan police\u2019s record of using excessive force.<\/p>\n It also accused Kenyan police of killing dozens of protesters last year and unlawfully arresting and detaining others.<\/p>\n But police chief Japhet Koome denied this, and last year accused opposition politicians of planting bodies hired from mortuaries at protest scenes in order to pin the deaths on his personnel.<\/p>\n How have previous foreign interventions fared in Haiti?<\/strong><\/p>\n Haiti has seen three major peacekeeping mission in the last 30 years, which have all failed to prevent the crisis getting worse.<\/p>\n In 1994, some 25,000 military personnel from Caribbean nations were sent under a UN-mandated operation.<\/p>\n Ten years on, 9,000 UN peacekeepers led by Brazil and known as Minustah were sent.<\/p>\n This time around, it is believed that the UN-mandated taskforce will total 3,000 officers at most, including civilians contractors deployed on site for logistical support.<\/p>\n Haiti\u2019s transitional presidential council recently appointed Mr Conille, a former prime minister, to lead the country until elections are held.<\/p>\n Haitians have seen peacekeeping missions come and go, with no stability achieved.<\/p>\n They will be hoping for a different outcome this time around.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The post Haiti vows to restore order with Kenya-led force\u2019s help<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Haiti\u2019s interim Prime Minister Garry Conille has vowed to end lawlessness with the help of a Kenyan-led international force deployed to the Caribbean nation. The arrival of 400 Kenyan police officers, in the first tranche of an international force, was a \u201cunique opportunity\u201d to restore order, Mr Conille said. \u201cI want no-one to doubt the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}