NAIROBI, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenya said Tuesday that it is ready to deploy 1,000 police officers on a peace mission that will be part of a multinational force that seeks to stabilize the Caribbean nation of Haiti.
Alfred Mutua, the cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, told journalists in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that an assessment team that was sent to identify the challenges has already returned from Haiti.
"We expect the mission to get a United Nations mandate in the next few weeks and actual troops to be deployed in Haiti latest by January next year," Mutua said.
The remarks came a day after visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that his country will provide 100 million U.S. dollars to support the Kenya police-led peacekeeping effort in Haiti, noting that the Biden administration was keen on ensuring that the police mission is successful.
Mutua said that Kenya has also begun to put in place the logistics required to send 1,000 police officers to Haiti. "We are also training some of our police officers French so that they can communicate with the locals in Haiti," he noted.
Korir Singoei, principal secretary for the State Department for Foreign Affairs, revealed that Kenya is one of the most successful and sought-after nations for peacekeeping missions having experienced successful tours by military and police in Namibia, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste.
