Kenya sent 168 more police officers to Haiti to join others on the ground in fighting criminal gangs terrorizing locals.
The team left Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on February 5 at night and was expected in Port-au-Prince on Thursday February 6 evening.
The officers mainly from paramilitary General Service Unit were exited to leave for the mission after months of training and waiting.
Top government officials saw the team off at the airport aboard a Kenya Airways flight.
The arrival of the new team rises to 800, the number of Kenyan cops on the ground under the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS)
.
The team is optimistic they will make an impact on the ground.
This came as the US announced it has frozen more than US$13 million (Sh1.7 billion) in funding for the Kenya-led Multinational Security Mission in Haiti under President Donald Trump’s 90-day foreign aid pause.
The United Nations confirmed the development on Tuesday, which caught many off-guard including officials in Kenya.
But officials on the ground said they are not worried with the developments so far.
“We have extended our contracts to October this year and we believe there will be a solution to this issue by then,” said an official on the ground.
Kenya said on Wednesday said the operations of the Kenya-led multinational security support mission in Haiti won’t be jeopardised after the United States froze its financial contributions to the force’s United Nations fund.
Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said the move, which stops $13.3 million in pending aid, was announced by U.N. Secretary-General’s Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Tuesday.
“The U.S. had committed $15 million to the trust fund; $1.7 million of that had already been spent, so $13.3 million is now frozen,” Dujarric told journalists.
“We received an official notification from the U.S. asking for an immediate stop work order on their contribution.”
According to Mwaura, some $110.3 million had been pledged by several countries towards the U.N. Trust Fund for Haiti, including the U.S., Canada, France, Turkey, Spain, Italy, and Algeria as of the end of 2024.
He said despite the freeze, the fund remained “well-resourced” to support the mission through September.
“Kenya and its partners remain fully committed to ensuring the mission transitions to a full U.N.-led operation to guarantee its long-term financial sustainability and security mandate,” added Mwaura.
The security mission was approved by the U.N. Security Council in October 2023 to support Haiti’s authorities in fighting criminal gangs in the Caribbean country.
It is not a United Nations operation and currently relies on voluntary contributions.
In addition to the $15 million transfer to the fund, the U.S. had contributed over $300 million in funds and equipment directly to the MSS, including dozens of armoured vehicles.
The funding freeze is part of newly elected President Donald Trump’s push to slash Washington’s overseas aid, including closing operations of the government’s main aid agency, USAID.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Singoei said that the UN Trust Fund for Haiti is the Fund that supports the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti as established in October 2023 by UNSCR 2699.
“The Kenyan led MSS has police deployments from not just Kenya but Guetemala, Jamaica, El Salvador, Bahamas, and Belize among others. As at the end of 2024, US$110.3 million had been pledged by several countries including theUSA, Canada, France, Turkey, Spain, Italy and Algeria.”
“Some US$85 million had been received by the Trust Fund including substantial amounts from the United States,” he said.
He said while undisbursed US contribution to the Trust Fund of $15 million has been paused as per presidential directive, the Fund has sufficient resources to continue underwriting the Mission until end of September 2025.
“The transition of the Mission to a full UN Mission to ensure financial sustainability is a key priority to which Kenya and all partners are committed.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has asked the United Nations to consider sending a peacekeeping force to Haiti.
The suggestion was made in a letter Macron sent to the U.N. after meeting with Leslie Voltaire, resident of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
Just last month, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince could become overrun by gangs if the international community does not step up aid to the security mission.
He said more money, equipment and personnel were needed for the force, adding that further delays risk the “catastrophic” collapse of Haiti’s security institutions.
The Kenyan team is part of the group of a UN-approved international force that will be made up of 2,500 officers from various countries.
There are however concerns that even if the team manages to dislodge the bandits from this stronghold, the absence of an immediate and lasting occupation by the police or the army will allow them to return quickly.
But even 1,000 security personnel or the mission’s targeted goal of 2,500 is insufficient, security experts say.
Chronic instability, dictatorships and natural disasters in recent decades have left Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas.
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