International Partnerships will help combat Critical global challanges - Haitian PM Gary Conille

Nairobi,

Saturday, 12 October, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

In his second day of a state visit to Kenya, Haitian Prime minister Dr. Gary Conille made an official visit to the National Defence College (NDC), a College of National Defence University-Kenya. 

Conille delivered a lecture to participants of Course No. 27 of 2024/2025 academic year where he acknowledged Kenya's Multinational security mission in Haiti, particularly in strengthening the rule of law and enhancing security.

He acknowledged the vital role played by Kenyan security forces, who are part of the Multinational Security Support Mission. 

The Prime Minister stressed the significance of international partnerships and collective responsibility in addressing critical global issues such as climate change, terrorism, and transnational crime where he emphasized the need for coordinated global action to tackle these challenges.

This comes as Kenya is preparing to send 600 more police officers to Haiti next month to bolster an international anti-gang mission. 

Heavily armed gangs, which control most of the capital Port-au-Prince, have continued to gain territory. Last week, members of the Gran Grif gang carried out one of the country's deadliest attacks in recent years, killing at least 115 people in a farming region, according to a local mayor.

Kenya has so fare deployed 400 troops to the mission since June when the operation was give a green light by UN.

Atleast 430 troops are on ground with 2900 more expected in the coming months from atleast 10 countries that have promised to support the Mission. 

Meanwhile, during a joint media briefing with the PM at State House yesterday, President Ruto told reporters the mission was improving security in Haiti, calling the fight against gangs "the battle that we can win". 

He said the additional 600 officers committed by Kenya were in training and would be ready for duty next month.

PM Conille praised the police response to last week's massacre.

"The police and the (Kenyan) contingent were able to deploy by road within - really, virtually - hours to make sure that the city in question was quickly protected," Conille said.

The Prime Minister called for collaboration and collective efforts to ensure peace and stability.

So far, Over 700,000 people in Haiti have fled their homes and over five million are going hungry - nearly half the population, according to the United Nations.