Haiti Expert Is Skeptical of Kenyan Police Intervention

That has been approved by the United Nations Security Council, but the Kenyan opposition has challenged the deployment and the Supreme Court of Kenya is looking at the issue. It appears that the constitution of Kenya prevents Kenya from sending police officers. It can send military people, but not police officers. I think the Supreme Court is going to say that is fine.

The Kenyan government is getting at least $100 million because Kenya and the United States recently signed a security agreement, using Kenyan troops for peacekeeping in Somalia. The United States couldn’t find anyone to send troops to Haiti. They tried the Mexicans, the Brazilians and the Canadians.

Q. Will it make a difference?

A. At best, they can reduce the level of violence in the capital city, but it’s not going to resolve any of the fundamental problems that Haiti has confronted for the last few years. The opposition in Haiti is not too keen on receiving the Kenyans. They are saying that if the Kenyans come, they will essentially prop up the existing government, which, in their eyes, is completely illegitimate.

The issues of poverty, massive inequalities, [and] infrastructural and political decay are not going to be resolved by the deployment of those Kenyan troops.

The Haitian government and the Kenyan government didn’t have diplomatic relations with embassies. Once the agreement was signed, there was a very quick move by the Haitians to set up an embassy and send an ambassador to Kenya. So this is very ad hoc.

I think it’s because no other countries want to go to Haiti. They know what happens with international interventions – they reestablish some security, they exit and the situation is worse. In the past, those international interventions were fraught with all kinds of corruption and sexual assault on the Haitian population.

When the UN was there until 2017, some of the troops introduced a strain of cholera that was unknown in Haiti. So Haitians are exhausted with the international community. And I think the international community, frankly, is exhausted with Haiti.