President William Ruto now says he’s determined to proceed with its plans to lead a United Nations-approved security mission to Haiti, despite a court ruling that temporarily blocked the deployment.
“I think there is a misinterpretation of what the court did,” Ruto told Reuters on the sidelines of the Italy-Africa summit.
President Ruto clarified that Kenya already maintains bilateral relations with the Caribbean nation, and the next step is for Haiti to formally request Kenya to deploy officers.
“We already have bilateral relations with Haiti, all that needs to be done now is for Haiti to make a request to Kenya and the mission will go ahead.”
“So, that mission can go ahead as soon as next week, if all the paperwork is done between Kenya and Haiti on the bilateral route that has been suggested by the court,” he said.
President Ruto emphasized that all necessary paperwork, as mandated by the High Court’s directives, is underway. Once completed, deployment of officers to Haiti could commence as early as next week.
Kenya, with a significant history of participating in international peacekeeping operations, committed 1,000 police officers last July, citing solidarity with Haiti as a brother nation.