After months of blockage by Republican lawmakers over funding for an armed security mission in Haiti, Secretary of State Antony Blinken ordered the State Department to proceed with funding $109 million to aid special forces Kenyans to deploy to Haiti in order to help the country’s national police fight armed gangs, according to an article from Miami Herald published Tuesday, June 18.
Blinken’s decision, known as the “nuclear option,” overrides a Republican blockade of funds, which, along with several legal challenges in Nairobi, has delayed the mission’s deployment. With Blinken’s permission, not only is there money to buy the equipment that a Kenyan security assessment team deemed necessary before officers arrived in Port-au-Prince, but that also sends a strong signal to other nations.
“By moving forward with the resource obligation, the secretary is also signaling to other countries the sincerity and seriousness of our commitment, in part to incentivize others to increase their own contributions to the mission,” a senior official said from the State Department to the Miami Herald.
At least six other nations, including Jamaica and Benin, have informed the United Nations that they plan to send their own police officers as part of the mission. However, those countries have been slow to provide equipment or put money into a U.N.-run mission trust fund.
That left the United States, which pledged $300 million, to shoulder most of the burden. However, while the Defense Department had no problem securing its $200 million in funding, the State Department encountered obstacles in Congress after requesting $50 million of the promised $100 million.
At the Capitol, aides to two Republican lawmakers, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, questioned the plan while their bosses refused to lift the blockade at the request of the State Department . Last month, lawmakers also criticized President Joe Biden for authorizing a $60 million military aid package using what’s known as the Presidential Levy Authority to obtain rifles and ammunition for the National Police. of Haiti and to assist in the deployment of the Kenyan-led force.
Despite these efforts, hopes of a deployment last month were dashed after a Kenyan assessment team, visiting Port-au-Prince to assess the country’s readiness to receive the mission, said it There were not enough armored vehicles to move foreign troops, and a deficit of radios and communications equipment. The team also stressed the need for helicopters to evacuate the injured.
The State Department official said the $109 million will help cover equipment, and that the U.S. government was able to provide additional vehicles and radios through various sources to address some of the issues raised and enable the mission to reach its full capacity and maintain itself over time. Although the mission is expected to have up to 2,500 personnel, the police officers will be deployed in phases.
Without providing specific details, the State Department official said the new funding “is crucial to enabling the success” of the Multinational Security Support Mission, or MSS, and for the Haitian National Police to fight gang violence.
Since February 29, powerful gangs have waged a violent, deadly campaign across Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. They took over police stations, attacked key government infrastructure and forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes. Although there is currently a lull in the coordinated attacks that have blanketed the capital for almost three months, last weekend 11 people were massacred by armed gang members in a rural town north of Port-au-Prince, in the Artibonite valley.
“The Haitian people cannot wait and Secretary Blinken has made the necessary decision to follow our commitment to supporting the MSS mission, the personnel deployed for the mission and the PNH [Police Nationale d’Haïti] in their efforts to provide security to the Haitian people,” the State Department official said. “Of course, we remain engaged in close consultation with Congress. »
Repeated delays have raised doubts about whether the mission will be completed. Although U.S. officials declined to provide a date, citing security concerns, they insist the deployment will happen soon, based on assurances from the Kenyan government. The government, which now faces a new legal challenge over the deployment, said the dispute should not affect the arrival of police officers.
The multinational security support mission, which Kenya first proposed to lead almost a year ago in July, was approved by the UN Security Council in October.
With Miami Herald
