NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell says he believes that police officers from Kenya will still be heading to Haiti despite the recent decision made by the court to prevent their deployment.
In July, Kenya pledged to send 1,000 officers to Haiti. However, a few days ago, petitioners said deploying police officers outside the country is illegal, leading to the Kenyan court’s temporary injunction, valid until October 24.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council approved a year-long multi-national security mission to Haiti that Kenya would lead.
“I spoke to the Americans who, as best I can understand it, this is an ex parte order which was put in place, and the determination has to be made by a court about the constitutionality of the deployment of the troops,” Mitchell told reporters on Wednesday.
“The Americans don’t think it will stop the deployment, so I’ll go with that for now. We’ll check with our sources in London, where the High Commission for Kenya that serves this part of the world is, so I don’t expect it to be an issue in the long term.”
“But you know, in a democratic society, people can challenge things in the court. So I assume, just like in our own country, that we have to await the outcome of the court proceedings.”
The Davis administration has committed 150 local troops to help Haiti.
According to the United Nations, over 3,000 homicides have been reported in Haiti this year, and over 1,500 kidnapping cases for ransom.
and then 