The Kenya-led Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti, a foreign policy priority for President William Ruto, hangs in the balance after the US suspended its funding on Tuesday.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the US had committed $15 million to the mission’s trust fund, but only $1.7 million had been used, leaving $13.3 million now frozen.
This follows President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending US humanitarian aid for 90 days to reassess spending, throwing the mission into a limbo.
The Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti has been a top agenda in the Kenya-US diplomatic relations since Ruto came to power.
After failing to convince Canada to deploy and lead the Haiti mission, the US turned to Kenya, with a pledge to contribute $300 million.
The intervention is unpopular in some quarters in Kenya and in Haiti and faced legal suits in Kenya. But with Treasury admitting it spent Sh2 billion on the mission with anticipation of a UN reimbursement, the funding freeze puts Kenya in an uncertain position on how to proceed with the deployment and ground operations, if the US funding stops completely.
Kenya is itself struggling economically. It is not also clear how the UN is to reimburse, given Haiti is not a UN mission.
Further, the proposal to transition into a peacekeeping mission with a clear mandate, adequate resources and increased expertise also hangs in the balance as it remains “gravely underfunded and underequipped, without necessary air support”.
The mission is aimed at combating armed gangs in Haiti and was authorised by the UN Security Council. It operates on voluntary contributions.
The US has been the biggest contributor at $380 million, while Canada has provided $59 million and France $3.3 million as of 2024.
Germany announced in November a contribution of $10.4 million.
The funding pause is thus expected to affect the mission’s operations, soldiers’ upkeep, police armaments and training of the Haitian National Police, which requires an estimated $600 million per year.
Former Secretary of State in the Biden Presidency, Anthony Blinken, on September 5, said the MSS needed more funding to effectively fulfil its objectives.
During the visit to Port-auPrince, Blinken said they had delivered over $300 million to support the mission, “sending armoured vehicles, radios, night-vision goggles; standing up an entire base of operations”.
“But at this critical moment, we do need more funding, we do need more personnel, to sustain and carry out the objectives of this mission… We’ll be getting assistance here more quickly,” he said.
However, Kenyan authorities were on Wednesday bullish, with National Security Adviser Monica Juma saying there were available funds to continue with the mission.
“It is true the US contribution to the UN Trust Fund for MSS Haiti is on pause, affecting about $15 million in support. It is also true that the MSS mission is a priority and a beneficiary of the waiver. Meanwhile, there are sufficient funds in the UN Trust Fund for Haiti from other countries (approximately $110 million) to continue operations,” Juma said on X.
Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’oei said the mission is supported by the UN Trust Fund as established in October 2023 by UNSCR 2699.
“… As at the end of 2024, $110.3 million had been pledged by several countries, including the USA, Canada, France, Turkey, Spain, Italy and Algeria. $85 million had been received by the Trust Fund, including substantial amounts from the United States.
“While undisbursed US contribution to the Trust Fund of $15 million has been paused as per presidential directive, the Fund has sufficient resources to continue underwriting the Mission until end of September 2025,” Sing’oei said on X, adding that the transition of MSS to a full UN Mission to ensure financial sustainability is a key priority to which Kenya and all partners are committed.
President Ruto in September asked the UNSC for additional funding and urged it to adopt innovative approaches to resource it.
There have been complaints of lack of equipment and delayed payment of allowances to the officers, an issue acknowledged by former US envoy to Kenya Meg Whitman.
The development further indicated the new administration in the US and Kenya are off rhythm on the mission, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio had during his vetting indicated the US would continue supporting the mission, albeit with more support from other partners.
“The Kenyans are there [Haiti] and they deserve a lot of credit for being willing to take on that mission and in recent days missions from various countries have arrived,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the questioning.
“I would include foreign partners in the Western Hemisphere, who should be contributing to this effort to provide some level of stability and security in Haiti, so that you can explore the opportunities to have a transitional government that has legitimacy that can ultimately lead to the conduct of elections.”
A readout of a call between Rubio and Ruto published on January 27, noted that the Secretary of State thanked the President for Kenya’s leadership of the Haiti mission.
Ruto on January 26, said he was “very proud that even President Trump, under the new administration, supports Kenya’s mission in Haiti to help the men, women and children of that nation experience peace and stability so they, too, can achieve what other nations have”.
The funding pause announcement came as Kenya planned to send 200 more officers on February 4.
The first batch of 400 officers departed in June last year, while another group of 217 arrived in January.
Officers on the ground, however, said they were not worried by the announcement as they have contracts running to October 2025.
“We believe by then a solution will have been found. We are focused on this,” an official who sought anonymity said.
Seventy additional soldiers from El Salvador arrived in Haiti on Tuesday to reinforce the mission, bringing the total number of Salvadoran forces to 78 personnel.
The soldiers will assist with air support for casualty and medical evacuation operations.
The helicopters from El Salvador
are expected to land by the end of
the week.
