Kenya Puts Police Deployment in Haiti on Hold

On Wednesday, the deployment of Kenyan police in Haiti is put on hold as gangs continue to flaunt their power and threaten to use it.

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The African nation had planned to send 1,000 agents as part of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti. However, with the resignation a few hours ago of the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, the decision of the East African country was to halt the operation.

Nairobi assures that the agreement they signed with Port-au-Prince still stands, although the deployment will not take place now because a sitting government is needed.

"Police cannot be deployed on the streets of Port-au-Prince without an administration in place," underlined the chief spokesman of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Salim Swaleh quoted by Le Nouvelliste newspaper.

Prior to Kenya's pause, there were concerns about funding for the mission, and of the $300 million pledged by the United States, there is only less than $11 million in existence in the trust fund set up by the United Nations (UN).

Kenya asked to be paid in advance, but UN rules require that the funds it administers be used only to reimburse costs already incurred, the newspaper pointed out.

In this context, the leader of the armed gang alliance Viv Ansanm, Jimmy Cherizier, alias Barbecue, stressed that his coalition would wage a battle to free Haiti from the clutches of traditional politicians and corrupt oligarchs.

Cherizier rejected the negotiations of the international community to find a way out of the serious political crisis in Haiti, and stressed that only the people can choose their leaders.

To the Multinational Support Mission to the Haitian National Police, Barbecue said: no one can scare us, make us believe that we are going to be kicked out of our country.

We are the sons of Dessalines. We are not making a peaceful revolution. We are making a bloody revolution," he said.

All the hotels that host traditional politicians, we will get to them little by little, whoever they are, we will make sure we solve that problem.

"Woe to all the hotels that hide a politician who collaborated with Ariel Henry," threatened gang coalition chief Viv Ansanm.