Kenya, Haiti sign 'reciprocal' agreement on police deployment

Kenya has formalized the planned deployment of 1,000 police officers to Haiti after signing a reciprocal agreement with the Caribbean country.

A reciprocal agreement is an arrangement between two or more states that prevents an employee working in one while living in the other from having to pay income taxes to both.

The agreement was signed in Nairobi on Friday by security ministers from the two countries in the presence of President William Ruto and Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

“I take this opportunity to reiterate Kenya’s commitment to contribute to the success of this multinational mission. We believe this is a historic duty because peace in Haiti is good for the world as a whole,” President Ruto said in a statement after the signing ceremony in Nairobi.

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He said the move is in line with the court's determination that there be a reciprocal instrument between the two countries for Kenya to deploy its national police to Haiti.

President Ruto further said the meeting also discussed the next steps to follow to enable fast-tracking of the deployment.

“I take this opportunity to reiterate Kenya’s commitment to contribute to the success of this multi-national mission. We believe this is a historic duty because peace in Haiti is good for the world,” he added.

With the signing, Kenya now embarks on the final preparations of deployment having received parliament’s approval to deploy trained 1,000 officers for the mission, prepared its concept of operations, authorization procedures and documents in its role as the lead coordinator of the mission.

Kenya and Haiti sign agreement on the deployment of 1,000 police officers to the Multi-National Security Support Mission in Haiti. pic.twitter.com/vJtzFoDQ99

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) March 1, 2024

Haiti mission

An estimated 200 criminal groups are contesting various parts of the country, with half of those reportedly controlling 80 per cent of Port-au-Prince.

On Friday, gun battles between the gangs and the local police that extended to the main international airport forced multiple commercial airlines to suspend flights into Port-au-Prince.

A prominent gang leader also wants the Prime Minister who is currently in Nairobi ousted.

Nairobi is yet to comment on its earlier decision to appeal a court decision that halted the deployment of Kenyan police officers to the mission.

Last month, High Court Judge Chacha Mwita ruled that any decision by any state organ or state officer to deploy police officers to Haiti contravenes the constitution and the law and is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and invalid.

The United States has been leading calls for the mission’s deployment promising to offer operational support to help the Haitian National Police with planning, intelligence, airlift capacity, communications, and medical equipment and services.

On its part, Canada is offering support towards training, communications and logistics.

At the same time, the United Nations has launched a USD674 million appeal for humanitarian projects in Haiti which is now facing a severe food crisis following the closure of its major supply routes by gangs.

The appeal comes a week after the agency established a trust fund to receive contributions towards the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti.

The kitty is set to receive USD 200 million pledged by the United States and USD 80.5 million pledged by Canada as calls on more countries to make their contributions are made.

Benin, France, Germany, and Jamaica have also announced financial, personnel, and in-kind commitments to the UN-authorized mission.