Members of Kenya’s National Assembly approved the deployment of 1,000 police officers to Haiti.
The plans are to send the officers to Haiti by the end of November 2023.
The lawmakers on Thursday adopted the joint committees’ report recommending that the House approve the deployment.
“The Committees having reviewed Kenya’s obligations to the UN, its existing legal framework, submissions through public participation, and submissions by stakeholders recommends that Parliament approves the proposed deployment of the National Police Service to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission for Haiti under the provisions of the Constitution,” the joint team recommended.
The move now paves the way for the deployment of officers to support the local police in the troubled Caribbean country.
Last month, the Cabinet approved the deployment of 1,000 police officers to Haiti, jumping one more legal hurdle in the circuitous approvals needed to have the move get legal backing.
A dispatch from the State House in Nairobi said the country’s council of ministers had approved the deployment which will now head to Parliament for the needed ratification.
The decision by the government to send the troops has been seen as controversial and a lawyer had already gone to court seeking to stop the deployment altogether.
The High Court had earlier suspended plans for deployment, temporarily, after the Third Way Alliance boss Ekuru Aukot argued there had been no Cabinet decision on it and that Parliament was being bypassed.
The approval by both Parliament and the Cabinet will now defeat the case in court.
A dozen senior police officers toured Toussaint Louverture International Airport and neighbouring sites in Port-au-Prince Haiti, in August for an assessment study.
The team that was led by Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police Noor Gabow also held meetings in New York, US, and met with officials from the Haitian government to understand the demands of the local population.
The US is partly funding the MSS to the tune of $200 million if Congress approves.
This comes amid reports that hospital in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, has been evacuated by police after nearby gang violence.
In Haiti, more than 100 patients – nearly half of them children – had to be removed from the Fontaine Hospital Center, according to its director Jose Ulysse.
The hospital is in the large shantytown of Cite Soleil, where there have been reports of unrest in recent days following the death of a gang leader.
Haiti is currently in the grip of unprecedented levels of lawlessness.
It came a day after powerful gang leader Iskar Andrice was killed in Cite Soleil – raising fears that there could be a further spike in violence in the area.
Gangs have taken increasing control of Port-au-Prince since the assassination of the country’s president in 2021 threw Haiti into a political crisis.
Thousands of Haitians have fled their homes in the capital, while more than 2,400 others have been killed, according to the latest figures from the UN.
Kenya’s move has been backed by the UN.
