UN-Backed Kenyan Intervention Begins amidst Haiti’s Escalating Instability

On June 25, 2024, the first wave of 200 Kenyan police officers arrived in Port-au-Prince as a part of a United Nations-backed Multidimensional Security Support (MSS) mission to help combat gang violence and restore stability within a year (Coto & Sanon, 2024). These officers, that were joined by another 200 Kenyan police officers on July 16, (AFP - Agence France Presse, 2024), work in close cooperation with Haitian police to fight gangs and regain control over crucial infrastructure such as airports, hospitals and ports (Cotrino, 2024). Other teams of officers from Chile, Jamaica, Grenada, Paraguay, Burundi, Chad, Nigeria and Mauritius will join the Kenyan and Haitian police effort (Ombati, 2024). This intervention marks the fourth extensive foreign military intervention in the country and provoked mixed reactions since the previous UN mission, MINUSTAH, was tainted by sexual assault allegations and the cholera outbreak that resulted in the death of 10.000 people (Coto & Sanon, 2024).

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From Optimism to Pragmatism: the changing landscape of peace operations and the EU response

In recent days, articles have started to circulate regarding the end of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). It has been reported that the Somali Minister of Foreign Affairs Aimed Moa Fiji has formally requested the United Nations (UN) to end the mission in a letter to the Security Council and to the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Ross & Paravicini 2024; Africanews 2024). This event would reflect a broader trend of growing scepticism and distrust towards peacekeeping missions, as well as a shift towards “pragmatic peacekeeping”, characterized by smaller mandates focused on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency and by the prioritization of conflict containment(Karlsrud, 2023). Other examples of this tendency are the conclusion of the peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO) in 2024 and the expulsion of peacekeepers from Mali (MINUSMA) in December 2023.

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