Haitians Reject Kenya’s Plan For Armed Intervention

A Kenyan assessment mission arrived in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on August 20 to evaluate the security situation in the Caribbean country. The 10-member Kenyan mission met with senior officials of the de facto Haitian government, and the visit concluded on August 23. The plan to intervene has been condemned by progressive organizations and rights groups such as the Haitian Democratic Committee, Amnesty International, the Frantz Fanon Foundation, and the Kenyan Revolutionary Socialist League.

The delegation’s visit came weeks after Kenya offered to lead a multinational police force in Haiti to help improve its security and stem gang violence. On July 29, Kenyan Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua said that his country is ready to deploy 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haiti’s police to “restore normalcy in the country and protect strategic installations.”

Kenya’s proposal came in response to the Henry government’s official request to the UN for international military assistance to fight criminal gangs. At the time, several countries backed the prospect of sending a multilateral force to Haiti. However, no country stepped forward to lead the intervention.

Haitian movements have objected to the plan, citing the severe issues caused by previous foreign military interventions in the country. They also condemned the international community for supporting Henry. In 2021, the latter assumed office following the assassination of the previous de facto president Jovenel Moïse and in the same year indefinitely postponed the long overdue presidential and legislative elections. They also held Henry and the ruling far-right Haitian Tèt Kale Party responsible for the economic, social, political, and institutional crises facing the country.

Henry Boisrolin, a member of the Haitian Democratic Committee, pointed out that “1,000 policemen obviously cannot solve the issue of insecurity. In other words, the presence of those 1,000 policemen—in case they arrive in Haiti—would be to protect the leaders and institutions, not the Haitian people. This is clear.”