Nairobi — Kenyan President William Ruto says he will appeal a court ruling last week rejecting a planned deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti. Ruto promised last year that Kenya would lead a multinational force to help fight gangs in the troubled Caribbean nation, but critics challenged his legal authority.

Friday’s court ruling didn’t come as a surprise because procedure was not followed said, Dr. Francis Khayundi, assistant professor of international law at the United States International University Africa in Nairobi.

“Under article 240 of the constitution that talks about the National Security Council, amongst the role and functions of the security council, there was no mention that it had a role to do with deploying of the police officers. Their thinking was that only the armed forces can be sent or deployed outside of the territory of the country and not the police service,” he said.

The ruling also said that Kenya could’ve deployed its police officers only if a so-called “reciprocal arrangement” exists between the two nations.

Khayundi told VOA that the court action puts President Ruto in a difficult position, coming after the U.N. Security Council approved a Kenya-led multinational security force aimed at helping combat violent gangs in the troubled Caribbean nation.

“It’s a bit of [a] catch 22 situation; being between a rock and a hard place particularly for Kenya, here we are talking about the executive. For those who believe in the rule of law, of course it’s victory,” he said.

In a statement, Ruto’s government reiterated its commitment to honoring the country’s international obligations and says it will appeal the court ruling. That statement was welcomed by some in Haiti.

A local Haitian says, “it’s their country [Kenya], they make their decisions but as an ally country of Haiti, we are waiting for them. As the president says, it’s not over yet.”

Khayundi says while the Kenya government has the right to appeal, he wonders on which grounds it plans to do so.

“It’ll be interesting to see their grounds of appeal but that is a right they have,” he said. For me, I would suggest that the executive try and regularize or normalize that gap because if we don’t have the legal framework, then no appeal can put in place a legal framework.”

Tirana Hassan, Human Rights Watch Executive Director told a U.N. Security Council meeting last week that while plans for the deployment of the Kenyan-led force have stalled, the situation for many Haitians has worsened.

“Killings, kidnappings, sexual violence and other abuses continue at a staggering rate, with criminal group activities and fighting intensifying and spreading,” said Hassan.

The challenge to the deployment was brought to court by three petitioners, including opposition politician and constitutional lawyer Ekuru Aukot, who told VOA at the time the proposed deployment was unconstitutional.

Reacting to the ruling on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Aukot pleaded for Ruto to accept the court’s decision and called for the government to focus on providing security to troubled regions inside Kenya including his own village.
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Juba, South Sudan — Gunmen attacked villagers in the oil-rich region of Abyei claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, leaving at least 52 people dead, including a U.N. peacekeeper, and 64 wounded, a regional official said Sunday.

The motive for the attack Saturday evening was not immediately clear but it was suspected to revolve around a land dispute, Bulis Koch, Abyei information minister, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Abyei.

Deadly ethnic violence has been common in the region, where Twic Dinka tribal members from neighboring Warrap State are locked in a land dispute with Ngok Dinka from Abyei over the Aneet area, located at the border.

The attackers in Saturday’s violence were armed youth from the Nuer tribe who migrated to Warrap state last year because of flooding in their areas, Koch said.

In a statement, the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, UNISFA, condemned the violence that killed the peacekeeper.

UNIFSA confirmed intercommunal clashes took place in the Nyinkuac, Majbong and Khadian areas leading to casualties and the evacuation of civilians to UNISFA bases.

“The UNISFA base in Agok came under attack by an armed group. The mission repelled the attack, but tragically a Ghanaian peacekeeper was killed,” the statement said.

Sudan and South Sudan have disagreed over control of the Abyei region since a 2005 peace deal ended decades of civil war between Sudan’s north and south. Both Sudan and South Sudan claim ownership of Abyei, whose status was unresolved after South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011.

The region’s majority Ngok Dinka people favor South Sudan, while the Misseriya nomads who come to Abyei to find pasture for their cattle favor Sudan. Currently, the region is under the control of South Sudan.

An African Union panel proposed a referendum for Abyei but there was disagreement over who could vote. Currently, the region is under the control of South Sudan.

Inter-communal and cross-border clashes have escalated since South Sudan deployed its troops to Abyei in March.
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Bamako — The military regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced Sunday their immediate withdrawal from the West African bloc ECOWAS, saying it has become a threat to member states.

The leaders of the three Sahel nations issued a statement saying it was a “sovereign decision” to leave the Economic Community of West African States “without delay.”

Struggling with jihadist violence and poverty, the regimes have had tense ties with ECOWAS since coups took place in Niger last July, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

All three — founding members of the bloc in 1975 — were suspended from ECOWAS with Niger and Mali facing heavy sanctions as the bloc tried to push for the early return of civilian governments with elections.

The sanctions were an “irrational and unacceptable posture” at a time when the three “have decided to take their destiny in hand” — a reference to the coups that removed civilian administrations.

The three nations have hardened their positions in recent months and joined forces in an “Alliance of Sahel States.”

The leaders’ joint statement added that 15-member ECOWAS, “under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles, has become a threat to member states and peoples”.

They accused the grouping of failing to help them tackle the jihadists who swept into Mali from 2012 and then on to Burkina and Niger.

But leaving ECOWAS could make trade more difficult for the three land-locked nations, making goods more expensive, and could also see visa requirements re-imposed for travel.

Under pressure from the military regimes, former colonial power France has removed ambassadors and troops and watched Russia fill the void militarily and politically.

The French army’s withdrawal from the Sahel — the region along the Sahara desert across Africa — has heightened concerns over the conflicts spreading southward to Gulf of Guinea states Ghana, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast.

‘Bad faith’ 

The prime minister appointed by Niger’s regime on Thursday blasted ECOWAS for “bad faith” after the bloc largely shunned a planned meeting in Niamey.

Niger had hoped for an opportunity to talk through differences with fellow states of ECOWAS which has cold-shouldered Niamey, imposing heavy economic and financial sanctions following the military coup that overthrew elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

Niger’s military leaders, wrestling with high food prices and a scarcity of medicines, have said they want up to three years for a transition back to civilian rule.

In Mali, the ruling officers under Colonel Assimi Goita had pledged to hold elections in February this year, but that has now been pushed back to an unknown date.

Burkina Faso, which has not been put under sanctions although Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in September 2022, has set elections for this summer, but says the fight against the insurgents remains the top priority.   

 
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