Kenya has volunteered to send 1,000 police personnel to Haiti to help train and support local police, reportedly to “restore order” in the Caribbean country. However, their idea is nothing more than a disguised military occupation; an occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in disguise. By agreeing to send soldiers to Haiti, the Kenyan government is contributing in undermining Haitian sovereignty and self-determination while supporting the neocolonial goals of the US, the Core Group, and the UN.
Many people were astonished to learn that an African government had sent troops to Haiti, an American country. Dr. Alfred N. Mutua, the Republic of Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, announced the intervention, portraying it as a pan-Africanist attempt to support another Black country.
This, however, goes beyond Pan-Africanism, since Haitians have constantly resisted foreign forces on their territory.
It appears that selecting African nations to join in this intervention is a public relations exercise, but it is worth mentioning that Haitian President Ariel Henry and his administration were nominated by the United States, which just removed its residents from the country.
What, after all, is in it for Kenya? A chance to train and raise the pay of local police forces while also gaining reputation, or at least bootlicking approbation, from the West. What about Haiti? White blows from a Black hand, and a degradation of their sovereignty.
RSL demands that Kenya withdraw their intention to send 1,000 police to Haiti, while also calling on Kenyans to join the Haitian masses and radical voices throughout the world in rejecting the Core Group’s and the UN’s prolonged occupation and rule of Haiti.
As Africans, we have to grow conscious of imperialist techniques and see through our leaders’ hasty choices to send soldiers to oppress other people. No to employment. Foreign meddling is unacceptable. Blackface imperialism must be rejected. Yes to self-government. Yes, Haiti and Africa should form a truly Pan-African alliance.
Revolutinary Socialist League in the International Socialist League