By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Kenya, William Ruto has urged the international community to provide financial assistance in order to sustain the ongoing security mission in Haiti, an operation that has been extended by another one year.
“We are asking the international community to match their commitment and their pledges with the necessary action for us to be able to complete the task ahead of us,” Kenya’s Ruto said on Friday.
The Kenyan leader spoke after a meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, with Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille.
The multinational security mission commenced June and is aimed at assisting to curtail the activities of gang members controlling a large part of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and nearby areas.
More than 3,600 people have been killed in the country since January, including over 100 children, while more than 500,000 Haitians have been forced out from their homes, the UN said.
Heritage Times HT reports that Kenya had deployed 400 of its pledged 1,000 police officers in June and July this year, with a pledge to send the remaining 600 who are currently undergoing training to join the mission next month.
Although the mission was approved by the UN security council, it is not a UN operation and relies on voluntary financial contributions.
Only $85m (£65m) of the mission’s estimated $600m required annually for its operation has been received so far through a trust fund set up by the UN, according to Human Rights Watch.
It is not clear how much money has been spent so far but Ruto says more financial support is needed to “sustain” the mission until October next year.
“When resources are made available, there will be demonstrable progress of the mission,” President Ruto.
Ruto said that the available funds would run out by March next year.
“We have a window of success that is evident from the operations that have been carried out already,” the president added.
He said the deployment was already showing positive results – “restoring hope and a glimpse of stability”.
