Members of Parliament (MPs) have approved the deployment of 1000 police officers to Haiti, under a peacekeeping mission approved by the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
The National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security and the Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defence & Foreign Relations jointly approved the mission to see Kenyan troops dispatched to Haiti in 2024.
They will be dispatched to restore combat gangs that have largely overrun Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
While appearing before the joint committee on November 9, 2023, Police Inspector General Japhet Koome said the Kenyan troops will be deployed in stages. A selection exercise has been done to identify the officers participating in the mission.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki also appeared before the House committee, where he broke down the cost of the Haiti mission.
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Kindiki told MPs the deployment of Kenya’s 1000 troops will cost Kes 36,570,730,591, which will be obtained from UN member states. The mission's total cost involving troops from other countries will cost Kes 91 billion.
“Unless all resources are mobilised and availed, our troops will not leave the country. They will not leave Kenyan soil until the equipment required on the ground in Haiti is in place,” Kindiki told the joint committee.
The United Nations Security Council approved the Multinational Security Support mission that Kenya will lead.
