By Adongo Ogony May 18, 2024
Kenya’s Haiti Deployment Faces New Court Challenge
The Thirdway Alliance Kenya led by Dr Ekuru Aukot has filed a new lawsuit seeking to prevent the government from sending police to violence-plagued Haiti as part of a UN-backed mission.
Dr Aukot and Miruru Waweru lodged the complaint on Thursday, arguing that the government had “blatantly disregarded” a January court order prohibiting the deployment as unconstitutional and illegal.
The lawsuit said that its petitioners were “reliably informed” that the Kenyan deployment may take place no later than May 23, “hence the urgency of this application”.
Haiti has suffered from poverty, political instability and natural disasters for decades, and the UN-backed multinational force — to be led by Kenya — has been tasked with helping its beleaguered police rein in criminal gangs.
The expected deployment of a first batch of Kenyan police to the Caribbean nation would coincide with a visit by President William Ruto to Washington where he will meet US President Joe Biden on May 23.
A Haitian source had told AFP in early May that a first contingent of 200 Kenyan police were expected by that date.
The Kenyan government has not publicly commented on the date, but an interior ministry source told AFP they could arrive by next Tuesday.
Kenya pledged last July to deploy up to 1,000 personnel to Haiti, an offer welcomed by the United States and other nations that had ruled out putting their own forces on the ground.
Photos offer rare glimpse into Haitian gangland
Story and photographs by Evelio Contreras, CNN
Published April 30, 2024
Gang leader Vitel’homme Innocent poses for a photo in the Tabarre district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Soft spoken and direct, Vitel’homme Innocent, who is on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List,” answered our phone calls over WhatsApp to say he would promise CNN safe passage into his gangland territory in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
It was my second trip in as many months to the Haitian capital, working as a photographer with Senior National Correspondent David Culver and Senior Editor Caitlin Hu, after gang attacks brought the country’s international airport and main seaport to a standstill, effectively shutting down the city.
After spending time in March with communities trying to protect their homes and families against the gang incursions, we wanted to understand the role of gangs in Haiti. Weeks later, we traveled back to Port-au-Prince to meet with Innocent and see for ourselves where he fits into the landscape of a city that is 80 percent controlled by gangs.
Innocent is the leader of a gang called Kraze Baryé, which controls a handful of neighborhoods near the US Embassy. He is accused of kidnapping US citizens in 2021 and in 2022, allegedly causing the death of an elderly American woman.
On the day of our meet, we waited on an empty road outside Innocent’s territory for one of his men to take us in.
We didn’t know what would happen next, so I wanted to capture everything.
Multiple Kraze Baryé members wore what appeared to be police gear, either fake or stolen.
With poorly maintained weapons and a lack of training, Haiti’s gangs would offer little resistance to a professional fighting force, experts say.
I usually look for moments that are meaningful before I press record. But as soon as we crossed one checkpoint with men wearing fake military uniforms, another checkpoint appeared before us.
It was important to record all of it because Innocent could be waiting for us around any corner.
When we met Innocent, 45 minutes after entering his territory, we had only hours to be with him before curfew.
Normally, when I take photos and shoot video on assignment, I carve out times to do both. I look for a moment when I can put down my video camera and take stills with my photo camera to capture different scenes and emotions.
But in a situation like this, where every move could mean losing access or worse, I took pictures at the same time as shooting video.
I found that a good time to take pictures was when our translator would interpret Innocent’s Haitian Creole into English. I would use those moments to take stills of Innocent and the other gang members.
I looked to my left and right at young men who looked like teenagers as they patrolled the streets on high alert for danger in what had the feel of a war zone.
I took pictures of them while they waited. A few wanted portraits. We didn’t speak the same language, but we wanted to share a moment of recognition. It felt like an impromptu photo session. One where we could take a breath and think about our interactions.
For our afternoon with Innocent, he took us to the most precarious spots in his controlled neighborhoods. Behind a barricade, we could see a police station where armored tanks rolled in and a dried-up riverbed where a rival gang lived on the other side of his territory.
He took us to a place where his grandmother lived and businesses he owned had been destroyed.
On our way out of his territory, through bumpy roads and deep pools of rainwater, we stopped to pick up food from a neighborhood vendor.
We met blind people and an elderly woman with a foot injury living under Innocent’s rule. These are people — the ones who are not leading an event, but living quietly — that I look for when I take photos.
Even though we were safe for the moment, I reflected on what their safety would look like when we were outside their territory and no longer watching Innocent and his gang.
What those pictures would look like.
A man stands at the edge of the once-thriving territory now controlled by Kraze Baryé in Port-au-Prince.
Ruto sending Kenyan troops to Haiti for money, US ex-diplomat Daniel Lewis Foote says
SATURDAY MARCH 23 2024
An American diplomat has made controversial claims about Kenyan President William Ruto’s move to head the UN-backed mission to restore peace in Haiti.
In an interview with CNN, Daniel Lewis Foote, who was the US special envoy to Haiti from July to September, said that the Kenyan president was after the money the UN is expected to inject into the mission.
Foote claimed that the Haiti mission was no walk in the park and that the well-organised gangs that overthrew the government would fight the Kenyan police to the death.
“You see the reticence on the part of the Kenyan public to send these guys and that makes me nervous. I believe that this is more of a cash grab by President Ruto, whose country is going to receive a lot of money in doing this,” Mr Foote said.
In an interview with CNN, Daniel Lewis Foote, who was the US special envoy to Haiti from July to September, said that the Kenyan president was after the money the UN is expected to inject into the mission.
President Joe Biden’s administration had promised to inject Ksh13 billion ($100 million) to support the multinational force.
Kenya had promised to send 1,000 troops to the Caribbean nation in a deal struck between the Kenyan president and former Haitian prime minister Ariel Henry, who recently resigned to pave the way for the Transitional Council.
However, Mr Ariel resigned barely a week after signing an agreement in Nairobi, which stopped the deployment for a while.
After signing the deal, Mr Ariel was forced to land in Puerto Rico’s capital San Juan as fighting intensified.
While the Haiti mission has received support from Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad, and Kenya, Mr Foote believes that there is a need to increase the number of troops that should be deployed if the mission has to be successful.
“A thousand isn’t going to cut it and while they have commitments for double or triple that, that’s still not going to cut it. Every time there has been a military intervention in Haiti in the past 20 years, it’s had a minimum of 20,000 troops or police going in there,” Foote stated.
Read: Five states pledge personnel for Haiti security mission
While Mr Foote suggests that Kenya’s motivation was based on billions that the UN Security Council will pump into the mission, the President has maintained that the country is going to Haiti because Haitians need help from Kenya.
“From Kenya, we are ready for this deployment, and I request all the other partners across the globe to step up so that we can respond in good time,” Ruto said when he signed the deal with Mr Ariel.
The latest development from the Caribbean state is that one of the gang leaders known as Ernst Julme, known as Ti Greg, was killed by the police in Thursday’s operation in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The death of Julme a member of gang leader Jimmy, better known as Barbeque, comes after the death of another gang leader, bringing hope to the people who have been cut off from essential services such as electricity, water, and access to health.
The situation in Haiti deteriorated in July 2021 following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
WILLY MUTUNGA: Are we on a suicide mission to Haiti?
Dr. Willy Mutunga
For once let all activists in Kenya come together and protect the lives and humanity of our 1000 police officers
As I write this article I do not know whether our compatriots are already in Haiti.
If they are then our government, the US, and the UN Security Council should be held accountable for what is a suicide mission to Haiti.
Our government, the US, and the UN Security Council have simply lured our compatriots into a deadly trap.
In total deviance of the orders of our courts, and the Constitution, the President and all state officers involved in this decision, are guilty of overthrowing the Constitution.
It is on the basis of actions like these that our Constitution has envisioned the impeachment of the President, and the withdrawal of our sovereign power from the President and his government.
What are these troops for?
A few recent historical facts are necessary. The US organized the overthrow of Aristide in 2004.
From 2004-2017 the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, also known as MINUSTAH, a front for the US and France, occupied Haiti.
Jovenei Moise was elected President in 2016. Ariel Henry was a functionary in the government of Mouse at different levels.
Moise was assassinated in 2021 and Henry took over political power. He has been in power unelected since the assassination of Moise.
Henry has postponed promised elections, saying security must first be established for a free and fair election. Henry also acts as Haiti’s President.
At the end of February 2024, Henry traveled to Kenya to meet our government that has volunteered to lead a Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti.
Our government had offered to send a thousand police officers to Haiti. The fly on the wall in the room where the two leaders met has a lot to tell us. Were they reflecting also on the trials and tribulations of serving imperialism?
It is in the public domain that the High Court has declared the position of our government unconstitutional.
Those who watched Otiende Omollo, a Senior Counsel and Member of Parliament on television, must be convinced by the legal arguments he advanced against the deployment of a police force in Haiti.
Besides legal arguments, there are also political arguments about the government sending its citizens on a suicide mission. Are we being told that the lives of our police officers do not count in the eyes of our government?
Why was there no public participation in these decisions? Everyone in our government, including the President, swore to protect, uphold, and defend the Constitution.
They also sought the help of the Almighty God in their obedience of the Constitution. Have they forgotten that one of God’s commandments is “Thou shalt not kill?”
How much did the US government pay our government to clean its continued mess in Haiti? Should there be transparency and accountability on this issue also? Both transparency and accountability are values in our Constitution.
It has become clear that our government, the US, and the UN Security Council while pontificating about democracy, and the rule of law, collectively subvert these values.
How can describe such actions? Hypocritical, perfidious, the employment of double standard, and for the US and UN, racism? Who do the three entities think they are hoodwinking?
Foreign interests here trump over our rule of law and the supremacy of our Constitution. Our government, just like that of Henry before he was overthrown, is pro-imperialism.
Did the US overthrow its puppet government in Haiti?
According to the Herald, Henry spent two days in the US upon return from Kenya.
He is reported to have informed the US government and the UN of when and how he intended to return to Haiti.
As Henry’s plane approached Santo Domingo he was suddenly told by the Dominican officials that he would not be allowed to land.
The Dominican Republic which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, was reported saying that the US had requested to have Henry make an “indefinite stop over” in the republic.
The Dominican Republic had refused the request prompting Henry’s plane to land in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. One can be forgiven for suggesting that the US has overthrown its puppet government in Haiti led by Henry.
Situation on the ground in Haiti
Jimmy Cherizier, alias Barbecue, who leads a broad alliance of the so-called “criminal gangs” has signaled the gangs could fight the proposed mission as a united front.
The Port-au-Prince International Airport is no longer secure. Local rights group RNDDH has reported that at least nine police stations have been torched while 21 public buildings or shops have been looted.
The group also reports that over 4,600 prisoners have escaped in the past week.
So, our compatriots, if in Haiti, are operating or will be operating under conditions of Haiti having no authority or government at the moment.
It is clear that Port-au-Prince is possibly under the rule of the broad alliance that our poor compatriots are supposed to police. What a death trap! What a suicide mission!
Whether our compatriots are still with us or are in Haiti what can we do to support them from these deadly actions by our government?
I believe we should think through a demonstration against these unconstitutional orders by our government.
We can walk peacefully to the offices of the Inspector General of Police and hand over to him our withdrawal of sovereign power from the government and his leadership of the police force on this matter. Our sovereign power must reinforce what the courts have decided.
For once let all activists in Kenya come together and protect the lives and humanity of our 1000 police officers even if their colleagues teargas us or use water cannons to stop us.
The writer is the former Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court, 2011-2016.
We know Haiti very well. No doubt about that.
All Kenyans Will Stand With Our Police in Haiti, God Bless Them. But, What Do We Know About the Carribean Nation?
The Real Deal 