(CMC) – Foreign Affairs Minister of The Bahamas, Fred Mitchell, says he believes that police officers from Kenya will still be heading to Haiti despite the recent decision made by the court to prevent their deployment.
In July, Kenya pledged to send 1,000 officers to Haiti, however, a few days ago petitioners said deploying police officers outside the country is illegal, leading to the Kenyan court’s temporary injunction, valid until October 24.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council approved a year-long multi-national security mission to Haiti that Kenya would lead.
“I spoke to the Americans. As best as I can understand it, this is an ex parte order which was put in place, and the determination has to be made by a court about the constitutionality of the deployment of the troops,” Mitchell told reporters on Wednesday.
“The Americans don’t seem to think that it will stop the deployment, so I’ll go with that for the time being. We’ll check with our own sources in London, where the High Commission for Kenya that serves this part of the world is, but I don’t expect it to be an issue in the long term.”
He continued, “But you know, in a democratic society, people have the opportunity to challenge things in the court. So I assume, just like in our own country, that we have to await the outcome of the court proceedings.”
Bahamas’ Phillip Davis administration has committed 150 local troops to the mission to help Haiti.
According to the United Nations, more than 3,000 homicides have been reported in Haiti this year and over 1,500 cases of kidnapping for ransom.
