Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#Kenya, October 3, 2022 – Kenyan Officers are being taught French to help break the language barrier between Kenya and Haiti when the multinational mission is launched. This was revealed by Alfred Mutua, Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister according to reports.
The languages of Kenya, Swahili and English and the languages of Haiti, French and Haitian Creole, puts in question the success of the multinational force, as helping the nation overcome the severe struggles it is faced with requires some kind-of communication.
As the Leading nation of the force, as promised, it is only appropriate that the 1000 soldiers that will be on the ground in hopefully the next few months as officials day, know French to a certain degree as this will plunge the officers deeper into the reality of the people through language thus yielding better results within the stipulated year for the mission.
The soldiers’ learning of French rests against the backdrop of doubts that the multinational intervention will be a success due to past failures such as that in 2004 when a security mission to the republic was tarnished by a sexual assault scandal.
Now this is not a good look with Kenya in the mix as it’s officers have been criticism for human rights abuse, as reports have said.
In fact, BBC reports that “several rights organisations have expressed worries about the ability of the officers to act humanely and responsibly in Haiti.”
Amnesty International, international non-governmental organisation focused on human rights, according to BBC, sent an open letter to the UN Security Council expressing its concern about Kenya going to Haiti as a result of the Kenyan police’s history of excessive and unnecessary force.
The Organisation even made mention of more than 30 cases, that it said it has documented, of Kenyan officers killing protestors with shooting and tear-gas suffocation in protests this year. Also, the officers are accused of beating and arresting protestors.
However, Japhet Koome, Kenya’s police chief, denied the accusations saying opposition politicians planted bodies hired from mortuaries at protest scenes in order to pin the deaths on his personnel, who he commends for their response to recent protests.