President William Ruto has welcomed the United Nations Security Council's approval of a multinational security mission for Haiti, led by Kenya.
The President said that the "mission is of special significance and critical urgency" adding that it is an overdue and critical instrument to define the multinational mission.
"The resolution marks an important moment in the history of global multilateralism, as we engage international collective action that places human security and dignity at the same level," the president said on Tuesday.
The 15-member UN Security Council voted to authorize a mission that would guard critical infrastructure such as airports, ports, schools, hospitals and key traffic intersections in the Caribbean nation.
Ruto said the resolution enables the nations of the world to discharge a collective moral duty of securing justice and security for all peoples of all nations.
"We express our determination that this mission will provide a different footprint in the history of international interventions in Haiti," Ruto said.
He said that Kenya possesses excellent international peace-mediating, peace-making, peace-building and peace-keeping credentials.
"From East Timor and the former Yugoslavia to Eritrea and Angola to Sierra Leone, we have always stood ready and willing to do our part to bring peace, security and stability," Ruto said.
"This is why we cannot turn away from Haiti. Doing nothing in the face of human suffering is therefore absolutely out of the question. We shall succeed in Haiti. We must not fail the people of Haiti."
The President said that the mission is aimed solely at providing an appropriate environment for the leadership, both of the political and civil society sectors to usher in stability, development and democratic governance.
He said that would be achieved through a political framework owned and driven by the people of Haiti.
"This is a mission for humanity, which connects boldly and directly with the founding principles of the United Nations, and affirms our shared hope that justice is finally coming to the people of Haiti," he said.
He said that the people of Haiti have borne the brunt of colonial plunder and repression, as well as post-colonial retaliation and exploitation, leaving them vulnerable to geological, climatic and epidemic calamities.
Ruto said on Tuesday that he welcomes the resolution as an "overdue and critical instrument to define the multinational mission."
The president said that the mission is a foundational intervention to provide the necessary conditions for Haiti to consolidate its development and governance.
"It is therefore essential that resources as well as operational scope available to the UN team, as well as other humanitarian and development actors on the ground in Haiti, be appropriately reinforced," the President said in a statement on Tuesday.
"As we look forward to the imminent COP28, I also call the attention of states, international organisations, philanthropies and other institutions to attend to the severe environmental degradation in Haiti, which calls out for the urgent mobilisation of collective action."
He said that the situation in Haiti demands that actions be scaled up significantly to meet the demands of emergency relief, humanitarian aid, support for livelihoods and major interventions in public health and environmental protection.
This, he noted, would be a matter of humanitarian consideration, moral responsibility and fundamental justice.
On September 21, Ruto spoke at the UN General Assembly and put a case for the United Nations Security Council to deliver a framework that would facilitate the deployment of a multinational security support mission to Haiti.
