Canada followed the footsteps of the United States and the European Union bloc to airlift its nationals from Haiti at a time when Kenya plans to send its citizens to the troubled Caribbean nation once a functional government is put in place.
The decision to help fleeing Canadians escape from Haiti was first announced by Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Monday, March 25.
At the time, the Canadian government announced it would launch an assisted departure operation for its citizens stuck in Haiti.
Reports indicate that despite Canada despatching flights, the operation did not take off as planned.
Poor weather made it impossible for the Canadian nationals to be airlifted to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
As such, the operation was postponed until a time when heavy rains and strong winds abated.
The fleeing Canadians who stated that they feared for their lives were told that the operation was suspended for the safety of everyone.
Canada’s decision to help its citizens flee came a week after the United States introduced chartered flights for American nationals fleeing the wartorn nation.
“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 State Department announced on March 16.
Incidentally, US government officials and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have called President William Ruto within the last month to seek assurance that Kenya will honour its promise to send security officers to Haiti.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 9, made a call to President William Ruto where he was assured Kenya would not negate an earlier agreement to deploy 1,000 police officers to Haiti.
Four days later, Ruto received another call from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who committed Ksh8.2 billion for Kenya to go ahead with the mission.
Kenyan troops will be seeking to win a war that two of the most powerful armies in the world have refused to fight.
