U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement regarding Kenyan security forces arriving in Haiti amid escalating gang violence. Simultaneously, violent protests erupted in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
“Concern that Kenya would not have enough domestic security officers was one of the primary reasons we were opposed to the Biden Administration’s plan to send Kenyan police to Haiti,” the lawmakers stated. “This week those fears were realized – on the same day 400 Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti, the Kenyan Parliament was overrun by protestors.”
The statement further noted that as a result of these protests, “the Kenyan military was mobilized under suspect constitutional authority and used live ammunition to repel the protestors, killing more than 20 civilians.” The lawmakers urged that “the administration must find a different solution to address Haiti’s insecurity.”
