The United States government on Saturday announced that it was commencing charter flights for its citizens stuck in Haiti.
Incidentally, this happened a day after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives questioned President Joe Biden's administration’s decision to donate Ksh28 billion to Kenya for the Haiti mission.
With the funding facing hurdles, Biden’s administration is now seeking to evacuate all of its citizens from Haiti, a week after evacuating non-essential staff from its embassy.
With Haiti’s main airport in Port-au-Prince taken over by gangs, the United States decided to use the less-known airport in Cap-Haïtienhas.
“We are arranging a charter flight for U.S. citizens from Cap-Haitien to the United States, assuming the security situation in Cap-Haitien remains stable,” the US government updated its citizens.
Only US citizens with valid passports were eligible to board the charter flights.
“U.S. citizens who choose to depart using U.S. government-coordinated flights must sign a promissory note agreeing to reimburse the U.S. government for the cost of the flight,” the statement read further.
On Thursday, March 14, it was reported that Kenya was sending a reconnaissance team to Haiti ahead of deploying 1,000 police officers to the wartorn Caribbean nation.
The US embassy in Haiti making its own assessment noted that the situation was unpredictable and dangerous.
Even with highly trained marines protecting US government officials in Haiti, the world’s superpower admitted it could not guarantee the safety of its citizens.
President William Ruto has vowed that despite the deteriorating situation in Haiti, Kenya would not give up on the people of Haiti.
Despite the funding from the US hitting a hurdle, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised that his country would make a Ksh8.2 billion donation towards the project.
