Haiti, Kenya urge partners to boost support for peacekeeping mission

The leaders of Kenya and Haiti on Friday urged international partners to honour their commitment to the U.N.-backed peacekeeping mission in Haiti, saying the mission needs more resources and that its budget will run out in March 2025.

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 said that in recent days he had been in contact with officials from more countries committed to helping Haiti.

“We are talking to Brazil as well and Mexico as well. As was stated, El Salvador has recently, on the 3rd of October, recommitted. But you are right; we would like to see a quicker response, we would like to see more commitment, and we are going to continue to push forward.” he said.

The gangs in Haiti have grown in power since the July 7^th, 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.

Africanews/Hauwa M.