Kenya Cancels Conference With Haiti After Standoff on Police Deployment
On Saturday, February 24, American media outlets stated that Kenyan government officials suddenly called off a scheduled video conference with Haitian counterparts. This decision came after the two nations were unable to reach an agreement regarding the dispatch of police officers to the Caribbean nation.
Earlier this week, Kenya was anticipated to conclude the bilateral security meeting, despite a court decision preventing the dispatch of Kenyan police officers to the Caribbean nation.
Kenya and Haiti were optimistic that the meeting would address the loophole that the court utilized to prevent the mission, specifically the absence of a mutual agreement to facilitate the deployment.
The video call served as a subsequent discussion related to the implementation of the task force, as committed by President William Ruto in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Kenya is anticipated to reveal updated mission dates soon.
As of now, there has been no official communication from Kenya and Haiti regarding the progress of the mission or whether the two nations will engage in further discussions.
In February of this year, representatives from Kenya engaged in discussions with officials from the US State Department and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to resolve their disagreements.
The meeting reportedly resulted in a favorable outcome, with both teams reaching a consensus on funding, the mission’s direction, and the leadership framework.
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Nevertheless, a group of American politicians is advocating for a significant portion of the allocated Ksh29 billion (USD 200 million) for the project to be retained until Kenya frees its police officers.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, who chaired a G20 meeting addressing the same issue in Brazil, agreed that the absence of mutual agreements between Kenya and Haiti posed a potential threat to the success of the mission.
However, despite the drawbacks, additional stakeholders showed a willingness to finance the mission.
“I think today we had at least another Ksh17 billion (USD120 million) committed to that effort,” Blinken stated shortly after the meeting.
Germany committed 775 million Kenyan Shillings, and Canada, represented by its Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, disclosed a budget of 8.6 billion Kenyan Shillings for the mission.
Canada has additionally committed to sending an additional Ksh4.5 billion for diverse security assistance in Haiti.
In the meantime, the United Nations has established a trust fund that garnered Ksh143 million to facilitate the training of Kenyan officials in the French language before their deployment.
Kenya Cancels Conference With Haiti After Standoff on Police Deployment