PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 1 (NNN-KBC) — Haiti has welcomed ”with great interest” Kenya’s offer to lead a multinational force to restore order.
Haiti Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus said he appreciated the expression of African solidarity.
The Caribbean nation is suffering from a surge in gang violence and is in a deep security, political and humanitarian crisis.
Earlier Kenyan Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua said a quick fix to Haiti’s problems would not be possible, but the mission would aim to stabilise the situation and train a proper Haitian police force.
Mutua said the people of Haiti had suffered enough, and Kenya felt a responsibility to help its brothers and sisters in the African diaspora.
UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomes Kenya’s willingness to lead an international force in the Caribbean nation of Haiti, his deputy spokesman said on Monday.
“The secretary-general welcomes Kenya’s positive response to his call for the urgently needed international non-UN security support to Haiti,” Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman, told reporters.
Guterres values Kenya’s consideration to possibly lead a non-UN multinational force, said Haq.
“The secretary-general reiterates his call to the Security Council to support such a non-UN international operation and encourages member states, particularly from the region, to join forces with Kenya,” the spokesman added.
Guterres has repeatedly called for the deployment of an international armed force in Haiti.
Some Security Council members said the fundamental solution to the crises in Haiti lies in advancing the political process, and the key to resolving the Haitian conundrum is in the hands of the Haitian people themselves. — NNN-KBC
