NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leaders of Kenya and Haiti on Friday urged international partners to honor their commitment to the U.N.-backed peacekeeping mission in Haiti. They said the mission needs more resources and will run out of budget by March 2025.
Kenya, which is leading the mission to quell gang violence in the Caribbean country, has sent nearly 400 officers. They are joined by nearly two dozen police and soldiers from Jamaica, but the number falls significantly short of the 2,500 committed to the mission by several countries, including Chad, Benin, Bangladesh and Barbados.
Kenyan President William Ruto, who met with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille in Nairobi on Friday, said Kenya would deploy 600 additional officers next month.
The UN has committed $85 million to the mission, of which $68 million has been received.
“We have a window of success which is evident from the operations that have already been carried out,” Ruto said.
Conille asked international partners to send the promised officers to ensure that the “contingent from Kenya has the resources they need.”
Conille said his regular meetings with the Kenyan commander were filled with words of encouragement that the fight against Haitian gangs “is winnable.”
Haiti’s gangs have grown in power since July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and it is now estimated that they control up to 80% of the capital. The increase in murders, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent insurgency by vigilante groups.
A UN Security Council voted unanimously in early October to extend the mandate of the Kenyan-led multinational force, after rejecting a call from Haiti to begin talks on transforming it into a UN peacekeeping mission.
