The US pledged on Monday to make resources available to support a Kenyan-led multinational police force in Haiti, and will table a resolution authorising the force at the UN Security Council, according to the State Department.
“We are committed to finding the resources to support this multinational force,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, adding that it was “still too early” to give details of the nature of US assistance, financial or material, or which other countries might contribute.
Kenya announced on Saturday that it was ready to take the lead of a multinational force in Haiti and deploy 1,000 police officers “to help train and assist the Haitian police to restore normality in the country and protect strategic installations.”
However, this “deployment proposal” requires a mandate from the UN Security Council.
In this regard, the United States associated with Ecuador will jointly introduce a resolution to this end at the UN Security Council, “in the near future,” the spokesman said.
The United States takes over the monthly presidency of the Security Council from Tuesday.
Kenya is also due to send an assessment mission to Haiti in the coming days and weeks to gauge the conditions for deploying such a police force.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been very active on this issue and had talks on Saturday with Kenyan President William Ruto.
A senior State Department official, Todd Robinson, has been in Nairobi in recent days to finalise the details.
Gangs control around 80% of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, and violent crimes such as rape, kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery and carjacking are a daily occurrence.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry have been calling for months for an international intervention to support the local police.
However, scalded by past experience and the risks of getting bogged down in a deadly quagmire, no country had volunteered until Kenya’s announcement.
In addition to the security situation, the small Caribbean country, where no elections have been held since 2016, is experiencing a serious humanitarian, economic and political crisis.
