NAIROBI: Kenya has said that it is ready to lead a United Nations-backed mission to Haiti, but at home faces mounting pressure to justify the risky intervention and the wisdom of sending its police to the violence-hit country.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday approved a Kenyan-led security operation in the Caribbean country, where the economy has collapsed and violent gangs control territory occupied by a weak government, according to AFP.
Haiti’s beleaguered leaders appealed for a year for global help to restore order, but the memory of other failed interventions in the country kept volunteers at bay.
Kenya’s Important Announcement
Then in July, a lifeline Kenya said that one thousand of its police could take the lead, an offer welcomed by the United States (US) and others that had ruled out putting their own forces on the ground.
After the UN’s greenlight, Kenyans realized the reality that their police could soon be fighting heavily armed gangsters in a strange and distant country and started asking questions.
What is their mission in Haiti? Brigadier General Emiliano Kipkorir Tonui, a veteran peacekeeper who oversaw Kenyan deployments to Liberia, former Yugoslavia, and East Timor among others raised the question. He said that Kenyans must be informed. The leadership is answerable to the nation.
