Kenyan police team leaves Haiti after international mission delayed - ExBulletin

Source: ExBulletin

NAIROBI, Kenya -- An advance team of Kenyan police officials who were assessing readiness before a multinational force is deployed to quell violence in Haiti is returning home after the planned deployment was delayed by logistical issues.

The team will arrive from Haiti on Monday after recommending a deployment delay that was later announced by the president.

A senior Kenyan official, who declined to be named as they are not the official spokesperson, said the bases are still under construction and essential resources, including vehicles, are needed before the first 200 Kenyan police officers can be deployed.

The deployment was supposed to start this week, but President William Ruto said it would be delayed by three weeks.

The base from which the police will operate is about 70% complete and needs secure storage for the armory, according to the senior official who was on the advance team.

The officials arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, met with Haitian police on Thursday and the transitional presidential council on Friday.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed deep appreciation for Ruto, who was on a state visit, for deciding to help end gang violence in Haiti.

The United States has agreed to contribute $300 million to a multinational force that will include 1,000 Kenyan police and others drawn from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and other countries.

Haiti has endured poverty, political instability and natural disasters for decades. International intervention in Haiti has a complicated history. A UN-sanctioned stabilization mission in Haiti, which began in June 2004, was marred by a sexual abuse scandal and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people. The mission ended in October 2017.