PORT-AU-PRINCE: On Thursday, a third force of Kenyan authorities arrived in Haiti to thwart aggressive gangs as authorities slammed concerns over a suspension of some US funding for the UN-backed mission.
The 200 officers from the West African nation join more than 600 different Kenyans in a foreign force supported by soldiers and police from nations like Jamaica, Guatemala, and El Salvador, which are already active alongside Haiti’s federal police.
” We are reaching close to our full power so the objective is began giving results”, Godfrey Otunge, the project’s force captain, said as he greeted the new officers at Haiti’s main international airport, which remains closed to commercial flights because of ongoing gang violence.
Two days after the US notified the UN that it was halting$ 3.3 million in international aid as part of a comprehensive ice on US aid, US President Donald Trump announced the latest police deployment.
Otunge stated in a statement on Wednesday that the iced funds represent less than 3 % of the mission’s continued support.
” I want to tell anyone, particularly the people of Haiti, that the objective remains on track”, he said.
He noted that support flights for support flights to support the US and another companion countries are also arriving practically daily and still provide administrative, economic, and equipment support.
” Both the department of defense and the department of state remain actively engaged in ( the mission’s ) operations”, Otunge stated.
The US state department approved waivers for$ 40. 7 million in foreign aid, including contracts to support forward-operating foundations, medical services, and car servicing, for the mission and Haitian authorities.
It noted that as just as Tuesday, the US delivered “much-needed large equipped gear” to the vision and Creole officers.
As he pointed to a plane on the tarmac, Haitian prime minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime said,” The Haitian people need security.” ” Everything that we promised is coming in,” the statement reads.
UN designated expert on Haiti, WilliamO’Neill, stated on Thursday that the mission plays a crucial role in assisting local officers in establishing security.
He claimed that the gangs have outgunned and outnumbered the Haitian national police. ” Steady and predictable funding for the ( mission ) requires all states to contribute, especially those in the region. More stability in Haiti will reduce the pressure to migrate, which is in everyone’s interest”.
American Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday to thank him for leading the country’s mission to Haiti, which is still fully operational, and for supporting Kenya’s efforts to bring about peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The mission, which began last year, is struggling with a lack of funding and personnel as gangs that control 85 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, keep seizing more territory.
An ongoing, weeklong attack in an upscale community near the capital has killed some 150 people, Marie Yolene Gilles of the nonprofit Fondasyon Je Klere told Magik9 radio station on Wednesday.
She claimed that more than 100 homes were also set on fire.
The attack on Kenscoff that began January 27 has left more than 1, 660 people homeless, according to the international organization for migration.
