11 Oct Kenyan court suspends Haiti crime operation

A Kenyan Court has temporarily suspended a government plan to send police to Haiti to combat gang-crime in the Caribbean nation.

Opposition politician Ekuru Aukot argued the deployment was unconstitutional and not backed by any law or treaty, viewing it as aggressive.

Aukot, a lawyer who helped draft Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution, charged that Kenya was deploying police at a time when the country itself was struggling with political insecurity.

“I am satisfied that the application and petition raise substantial issues of national importance and public interest that require urgent consideration,” High Court judge Enock Mwita ruled.

“A conservatory order is hereby issued restraining the respondents from deploying police officers to Haiti or any other country until 24th October 2023,” the ruling stated.

Armed gangs have taken over Haiti in recent years, pausing development on the Caribbean nation and ensuring it will remain for the coming years, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.

The UN-approved operation would see Kenyan police working beside their Haitian counterparts in multiple aggressive and strategic operations which would cripple the gangland economy.

The mission will also aim to create conditions to hold elections, which have not taken place in Haiti since 2016.