Kenya’s mission to combat criminal gangs and militant groups in Haiti could be turned into a full UN peacekeeping operation, President William Ruto has suggested.
Ruto traveled to the Caribbean nation at the weekend to assess the progress of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS). Kenya is playing a pivotal role in the operation to prevent the spread of rampant gang violence that has resulted in years of political turmoil and mass displacement.
“On the suggestion to transit this into a fully UN peacekeeping mission, we have absolutely no problem with it, if that is the direction the UN security council wants to take,” Ruto said in Port-au-Prince.
A team of hundreds of Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti on June 25 as part of an international force. The island nation had requested assistance in 2022, following President Jovenel Moise’s assassination the previous year.
Kenya agreed to lead the mission following months of appeals from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a specific country to head the force. Nairobi agreed to contribute 1,000 police officers last October, with the mission going ahead despite the high court in the East African nation deeming it unconstitutional.
Ruto also confirmed Kenya’s commitment to sending an additional 600 officers to Haiti in the coming weeks to help combat gangs controlling large parts of the capital and nearby regions.
“Our next batch, an additional 600, is undergoing redeployment training. We will be mission-ready in a few weeks’ time and look forward to the requisite support to enable their deployment,” Ruto added.
The UN Security Council is expected to meet by the end of September to decide on extending Kenya’s current mandate in Haiti for another year, potentially paving the way for a full peacekeeping mission by 2025.
However, the MSS mission has faced criticism for delays in the deployment of personnel. UN human rights expert William O’Neil also emphasized that the mission in Haiti remains under-equipped, lacking helicopters, night vision goggles, and drones.
“The MSS, authorized by the UN Security Council in October 2023, has so far deployed less than a quarter of its planned contingent,” O’Neil noted on Friday.
According to the UN, gang attacks in Haiti killed around 2,500 people in the first quarter of this year alone, with 580,000 displaced – more than half of whom are children.