Hours after Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry signed a deal with President William Ruto's administration to send 1,000 police officers on a peacekeeping mission to the Caribbean nation, concerns were raised regarding his safe return to his homeland.
This is after a gang, led by former police officer Jimmy Cherizier, on Thursday seized Haiti's main international airport and government buildings paralysing movement and government operations.
During a public lecture at the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi on Friday, Henry shrugged off the question on whether he felt safe enough to return to the country.
Henry's response was to Cherizier's defiant statement on Thursday, whereby he warned the Prime Minister not to return from Kenya.
The Prime Minister noted that Kenya's intervention was key in ensuring peace is restored in the conflict-riddled country.
"We thank President William Ruto for accepting to intervene. We thank him for that and we thank Kenya for solidarity with the people of Haiti, we are grateful," he stated.
"We need international cooperation to restore peace in Haiti. We need physical peace for our economic development."
Henry disclosed that multiple interventions had been put in place to protect the citizens from the gang violence experienced since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in July 2021 who was shot 12 times by a gang in his bedroom.
He added that the citizens urgently needed elected leaders to implement policies and steer the country to economic development.
"We tried many types of solutions and in October 2022, we requested the entire world to help us," Henry remarked.
"We need an election to stabilise the economy. We need a democratic government for people to go and invest in Haiti," he added.
Cherizier led a wave of violence in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, staging attacks on police stations and killing four officers in the process.
On Friday afternoon, the United States Embassy in Haiti revealed that heavy gunfire ensued near the airport, temporarily grounding all travel.
Haitian Police spokesperson Garry Desrosiers pointed out that the police service, which consists of over 9,000 officers for a country of 11 million people, lacked the requisite equipment to properly fight the gangs.
"The police need more equipment to be able to face the situation," he noted.
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