U.S. military equipment arrived in Haiti last weekend. (Photo: CMC)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — Following the United Nations’ approval of the Kenyan-led Multinational Support Mission to Haiti, the United States is shipping a variety of military equipment and supplies to the country, warning criminal organizations that “we have a mission to fulfill.”
Kenya has offered to send about 1,000 troops to help stabilize Haiti, along with personnel from several other countries, including the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize and Jamaica. The first 400 Kenyan troops arrived in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state last month.
The United States has said it will not send troops to Haiti but will provide more than $300 million in financial assistance and up to $60 million worth of equipment.
Last weekend, a U.S. Air Force cargo plane arrived at Toussaint Louverture International Airport carrying equipment, including several MaxPro armored vehicles.
In addition to receiving military equipment, the officers also received various resources to carry out their duties, including washing machines and other necessities.
In his first public comments since arriving in Haiti, Kenyan mission commander Godfrey Otunge said the MSS had a mission “to which we are committed” and that “we will accomplish this mission by working closely with the Haitian authorities and with our local and international partners in the pursuit of a new Haiti.”
Otunge, who did not answer questions from the media during a nationally televised press conference on Monday, said the mission’s objective was “to create security conditions conducive to the holding of free and fair elections.”
Speaking in Haiti on Monday, Haitian National Police Chief Normire Rameau said the U.N.-backed mission was focused on retaking all areas under gang control, restoring police to areas where they lack authority and helping return Haitians displaced by gangs.
Jimmy Cherissier, leader of the allied gang G9 an Fanmi e Alye, said his group was open to dialogue with authorities.
“We have decided to make public that our strategy of laying down our arms in order to foster a national dialogue and promote peace is already written in black and white on our agenda,” Cherissier, a former police officer and spokesman for the Living Together criminal group, an alliance of the country’s most powerful gangs, Gpèp and G9, said in a video appearance over the weekend.
“We are ready to appoint a reliable and consistent Haitian citizen living abroad to end this mafia war, to denounce the political mafia and the economy that are holding the country hostage, and to foster dialogue,” said the impeccably dressed Cherissier, also known as Barbecue.
The United Nations said more than 2,500 people have been killed or injured in Haiti in the first three months of the year, and escalating violence has forced more than half a million people to flee.
