Haiti: Presidential Transitional Council Seeks Support from Kenya

May 9, 2024 Hour: 6:25 pm

Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) is negotiating with the Kenyan government for the urgent dispatch of a multinational force to put an end to the chaos in the Caribbean country.

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CPT members sent a letter to Kenyan President William Ruto addressing the preparation for the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti.

“The population cannot wait any longer, there must be a climate of security in the country as soon as possible,” said an advisor to the political body whose name was not disclosed by the online newspaper Juno 7.

We see it like everyone else, the way armed gangs terrorise the civilian population, said the source, who called on the public to keep confidence in the CPT members.

According to recent @MiamiHerald article, #Haiti’s new Transitional Presidential Council this week sent a #letter to President @WilliamsRuto asking for the deployment of #Kenya�� Police-force contingent to #Haiti��. pic.twitter.com/w2O4UVdFCp

— Oliver T. Mhuriro (@Oliver_Mhuriro)
May 8, 2024

“Our mission is to change the situation, not to make things worse,” he said.

The Haitian National Police (HNP) could be receiving reinforcements from foreign troops as early as 26 May, a fact that today generates hope and concern in the Antillean nation.

So far, seven countries from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean have indicated their willingness to provide men for the Multinational Security Support Mission to be deployed in Haiti.

These countries are Kenya – which offered to lead the operations – Benin and Chad among the Africans; Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados among the Caribbean countries, as well as Bangladesh. Suriname announced a few hours ago that it will send a group of troops to Haiti.

Among the nations mentioned, Chad and Bangladesh have experience in international peacekeeping deployments, but the UN has always made it clear that the task now will be to support the HNP in the fight against armed gangs.

Of the $300 million pledged for this effort, the US pledged $120 million and has only raised less than $20 million.

The UN urged member states to be more generous and fill the gap to meet all needs.

According to a senior official in US President Joe Biden’s administration, the cost of the intervention mission in Haiti is between 515 and 600 million dollars over two years, without taking into account the needs on the ground.

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.

To the Multinational Haitian National Police Support Mission, 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,” said the former policeman, who blamed the United States, Canada and France for a bloodbath in Haiti.