The first 100 Kenyan police officers have arrived as peacekeepers in Haiti. Another 900 are due to follow as Kenya takes up leadership of the multiple foreign forces helping to restore law and order in Haiti.
This is not popular but it is still the right thing to do. Kenya is not an island, it is part of the global community with global obligations. It has peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, why not Haiti?
The Law Society of Kenya complained last week that the government is not respecting a February court order banning the deployment because Haiti and Kenya had not signed a mutual assistance pact. But Prime Minister Ariel Henry subsequently signed a reciprocal agreement on his visit to Kenya in March.
The gangs who have made most of the island a no-go area have threatened to attack International police if they come to Haiti. But is that a reason not to go? Al Shabaab is far more organised than the Haitian gangs but police units have still served effectively in Somalia.
And in the final analysis, the costs are being paid by the US so the Haiti deployment can only help Kenya.
Quote of the day: “The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach, is joy."
Girolamo Savonarola
The Italian preacher was burned at the stake in Florence on May 23, 1498
