Haiti mission operating without support and equipment, says Mudavadi

Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi, and his Dominican counterpart, Roberto Alvarez on May 12, 2025 [PCS]

Kenya's peacekeeping mission in Haiti has been operating without adequate logistical support or equipment, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said.

The CS, speaking during a meeting with Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez, urged the international community to honor its commitment and increase its pledges to the UN-backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.

Mudavadi stressed the need for intelligence sharing and proper resourcing of the mission, warning that without such support, efforts to stabilise Haiti will falter.

"This mission about more than security. It's s about restoring dignity and hope to a people who have suffered too long. But we cannot do it alone," he said.

Kenya and Dominican Republic signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate medical evacuation, repatriation of injured or deceased personnel, and access to Dominican territory for Kenyan officers.

At least 20 officers have received medical care in the Dominican Republic under the agreement.

Alvarez lauded Kenya's leadership in the mission, saying Haiti's instability has direct implications for regional security.

The leaders also signed an MOU on diplomatic training between their foreign service academies.

The Haiti MSS mission, now in its second year, was intended to deploy 2,500 personnel but has fewer than 800, most of them Kenyan.

The force faces harsh resistance from gangs controlling most of Port-au-Prince, in the Caribbean nation

So far, at least two Kenyan officers have died and several others injured since deployment.

In the first three months of 2025 alone, gang violence in Haiti claimed over 1,600 lives and left nearly 600 injured.