US to Finance, Train Kenyan Soldiers for Mission to Haiti

he US is preparing a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution to authorize Kenya to send its soldiers to Haiti. Washington believes Nairobi can aid Port-au-Prince in restoring order to gang-controlled territory. The Joe Biden administration said the American taxpayers will foot the bill for the deployment, and US soldiers will train the Kenyan force. 

For a year, the White House has sought a third country to send its soldiers into Haiti as UN Peacekeepers. After Canada resisted American pressure to lead the force, Nairobi agreed to send its troops to the Caribbean nation. 

The AP notes that some Haitians are opposed to the deployment of UN soldiers from Kenya. In 2010, UN forces released sewage, causing a cholera outbreak that killed nearly 10,000 Haitians. Additionally, Kenyan soldiers have been credibly accused of war crimes in Somalia, where Nairobi conducted military operations in the name of counterterrorism.