The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell does not believe a court’s decision in Kenya that prevents the country from deploying police officers to fight gangs in Haiti will be a long-term issue for the move to launch a multinational security mission to Haiti.

Petitioners in Kenya said deploying police officers outside the country is illegal, leading to the Kenyan court’s temporary injunction, valid until October 24.

In July, Kenya pledged to send 1,000 officers to Haiti.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council approved a year-long multi-national security mission to Haiti that Kenya would lead.

“I spoke to the Americans who actually, as best I can understand it, this is an ex parte order which was put in place, and the determination has to be made by a court about the constitutionality of the deployment of the troops,” Mr Mitchell told reporters yesterday.

“The Americans don’t seem to think that it will stop the deployment, so I’ll go with that for the time being. We’ll check with our own sources in London, where the High Commission for Kenya that serves this part of the world is, so I don’t expect it to be an issue in the long term.”

“But you know, in a democratic society, people have the opportunity to challenge things in the court. So I assume, just like in our own country, that we have to await the outcome of the court proceedings.”

The Davis administration has committed 150 local troops to the mission to help Haiti.

According to the United Nations, more than 3,000 homicides have been reported in Haiti this year and over 1,500 cases of kidnapping for ransom.