The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has lauded President William Ruto for considering deploying 1,000 police officers to address spiralling insecurity and gang violence in Haiti.
Blinken, on Tuesday, August 1, noted that Kenya was better placed to curb the growing humanitarian emergency in Haiti after volunteering to lead a multinational force set to be deployed to the Caribbean nation.
"We commend the Government of Kenya for responding to Haiti’s call and leading a multinational force to assist Haitian police in restoring security.
"We call on Haitian stakeholders to urgently broaden political consensus to restore democratic order as soon as conditions permit," Blinken stated.
Earlier, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced that Ecuador had agreed to join the Kenya-led multinational force.
Ecuador and the US are scheduled to present a resolution in the United Nations Security Council authorising the mission.
"We have made it a priority to find a lead nation to operate this multinational force. That has been a challenge. There have been a number of conversations, some of which have been reported publicly and some of which have not.
"But I will say that we are pleased, as the Secretary (Blinken) said in a statement, we are pleased that Kenya is stepping up and positively considering leading this to assume this role,” Miller stated.
Canada also pledged to support Kenya's effort through a financial package. On Monday, July 31, the UN approved Kenya's decision, and its Secretary-General António Guterres also praised Ruto.
Meanwhile, the US and the UN are yet to announce the date when the joint operation will kick off.
Kenya's decision to deploy the police officers came a year after the US, jointly with the United Nations, appealed for help reinforcing Haiti's law enforcement efforts to restore peace.
Reports indicate that armed gangs, mostly gun-wielding, have taken control of 80 per cent of Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince and spread to the wealthy neighbourhoods of its outskirts.
The gang members launched brazen assaults on the country's law enforcement officers, showing no fear by openly attacking them and even resorting to burning down police stations.
Haiti's crisis began in July 2021 after the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse.
