As Kenya’s President Ruto visits Washington today, concerns mount over U.S.-backed plan to quell violence in the gang-embattled nation

Washington pledged its financial and logistical support for the mission in a defense agreement with Kenya signed in September 2023. It was then that Kenya committed to deploying 1,000 troops to Port-au-Prince. The mission is also expected to include about 1,500 soldiers and police officers from other countries, bringing the total size of the prospective intervention force to 2,500.

The accord that outlines Haiti’s transitional presidential council mandates that a national security council is formed to oversee and define how international support will be carried out, including the Kenyan troops’ involvement. But this council still doesn’t exist, meaning the outgoing government and the depleted Haitian police force are stuck managing how resources come into Haiti.

“This is all a logistical coordination nightmare,” Johnston says. “You have a mission ostensibly designed to support and build local capacity, but which is being done without the involvement of the government that those same international actors helped put in power.”

Potential shortcomings of the mission don’t end there. The Kenyan troops are supposedly tasked to protect strategic sites in Port-au-Prince such as airports, the palace, and ministries. But it is unclear whether the forces are authorized to engage directly in combat, as well as if or how they will be integrated with the Haitian police force and military. Johnston says this is concerning given that these forces will be operating in densely-populated civilian areas.

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