The question is WHY the UN mission for peacekeeping in Haiti is controversial

The deployment has been unpopular in Kenya, and rights groups have raised concerns over the UN-backed mission.

Members of the second contingent of Kenyan police arrive in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

Published On 17 Jul 202417

Another 200 Kenyan police officers have arrived in Haiti under a United Nations-backed mission to try to quell rampant gang violence in the troubled Caribbean nation.

The new batch that arrived on Tuesday brings the total to 400 Kenyan boots on the ground in the violence-ravaged capital of Port-au-Prince, Haitian sources said.

The Kenyan contingent of what is shaping up to be a multinational mission has run into persistent legal challenges in Nairobi, where embattled President William Ruto is simultaneously trying to calm roiling antigovernment protests at home.

More Kenyans are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and months along with police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica for a total of 2,500 personnel.

The deployment was approved by a UN Security Council resolution in October, only to be delayed by a Kenyan court decision in January that ruled it unconstitutional.

The court said Ruto’s administration had no authority to send officers abroad without a prior bilateral agreement.

While the government secured that agreement with Haiti in March, a small opposition party, Thirdway Alliance Kenya, has filed a lawsuit in another attempt to block it.

The United States had been eagerly seeking a country to lead the mission and is supplying funding and logistical support.

President Joe Biden flatly ruled out putting US boots on the ground in Haiti.

Human Rights Watch has raised concerns about the Haiti mission and doubts over its funding, while watchdogs have repeatedly accused Kenyan police of using excessive force and carrying out unlawful killings.

Haiti has long been rocked by gang violence, but conditions sharply worsened at the end of February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince, saying they wanted to overthrow then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

The violence in Port-au-Prince has affected food security and humanitarian aid access, with much of the city in the hands of gangs accused of abuses, including murder, rape, looting and kidnappings.

Haitian sources say the new batch that arrived on Tuesday brings the total to 400 Kenyan boots on the ground in violence-ravaged Port-au-Prince. [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

More Kenyans are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and months. [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

Authorities have declined to provide details on the Kenyans’ assignments, citing security concerns. [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

The mission aims to quell gangs accused of killing more than 4,450 people last year, according to the UN. [Clarens Siffroy/AFP]

People walk along a street in central Port-au-Prince. Haiti has long been rocked by gang violence, but conditions worsened at the end of February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in the capital. [Johnson Sabin/EPA]

The violence in Port-au-Prince has affected food security and humanitarian aid access, with much of the city in the hands of gangs. [Mentor David Lorens/EPA]