Hands Off Haiti!

Kenyan Delegation Visits Haiti to Prepare for Foreign Intervention Force

A Kenyan "security delegation" visited Haiti from August 20 to 23 on a so-called assessment mission intended to clear the path for Kenya to lead la foreign interventionist force at the behest of the U.S. and the "Core Group" against Haiti. France and Canada are heavily involved in this "Core Group" along with the U.S. private interests which operate in Haiti. The intervention of a Kenyan military or police mission is said to be contingent on a UN Security Council mandate being obtained.

The mission of the foreign intervention force to be headed by Kenya is ostensibly to control violent gangs and strengthen the capacities of the Haitian National Police (PNH) which is a known corrupt body. In fact its purpose is to suppress the resistance of the Haitian people and maintain the rule of the Haitian oligarchs, currently headed by the illegitimate Ariel Henry regime, on behalf of narrow private interests based in the U.S., Canada, France and elsewhere.

It is telling that the 10-person delegation arrived aboard the regular American Airlines flight (AA 819) not from Kenya, but from the United States. It was greeted at the international airport by members of the Henry regime. The Kenyan delegation met with Prime Minister Henry, members of his "government," his three-member appointed "High Council for Transition" and members of the high command of the PNH.

Their main task during the three-day visit was to collaborate with the high command of the PNH in developing a "security plan" for their interventionist mission, a plan which was in fact already prepared by the police with U.S. and Canadian police in command. The plan originally called for a 1,000-strong force. However, during their visit, Kenyan officials claimed that they would need a minimum threshold of 2,000 officers who are ready to be deployed and they would need a resolution from the UN Security Council (UNSC), which the U.S. had said it would write. The delegation also proposed a "static protection force" aimed at protecting “strategic infrastructure” like the seaport, airport and police academy.

Kenya’s Foreign Minister Alfred N. Mutua was quoted by the New York Times on September 5 as saying, "It's not a matter of whether we are going to Haiti or not -- we are going. We are convinced." He said he hoped the Kenyan officers would deploy to Haiti by the end of the year. Mutua claims Kenya is partly inspired to take up this mission by Pan-African unity toward the descendants of the enslaved African peoples who liberated themselves from French rule. Words are cheap. It is the other part which Haitians are worried about -- that this intervention has the aim of cementing foreign rule over Haiti at a time the oppression of the Haitian people by foreign interference and domination is already intolerable.

No amount of protocol, attempts to claim a UN mandate for a non-UN military or police intervention or high ideals makes this mission legitimate.


This article was published in
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Volume 53 Number 9 - September 2023

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/M530099.HTM


    

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