US Wants UN Approval for Kenya-Led Haiti Force Next Week
(Bloomberg) — The Biden administration plans to seek UN Security Council approval as early as next week to deploy a Kenya-led multinational force to Haiti, people familiar with the matter said.
The people asked not to be identified because the timing of the US push hasn’t been publicly released. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Joe Biden said Haiti “cannot wait much longer.”
The US push comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Kenya’s President William Ruto on the sidelines of the UN meeting. Ruto has volunteered Kenyan troops to lead the mission as part of a broader push to quell the latest round of political chaos that has engulfed the impoverished nation.
“I thank him for his willingness to serve as the lead nation of a UN-backed security support mission,” Biden said of Ruto in his speech. “I call on the Security Council to authorize this mission now.”
The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Haiti had appealed for a peacekeeping force last October to stop gangs that have overrun the country, and Kenya was the first to respond, with an offer to send 1,000 police to train Haiti’s forces.
