The Biden administration has urgently requested the deployment of a Kenyan-led security force to Haiti after the killings of three American missionaries in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, May 23rd.
The call on Friday came after Missions in Haiti Inc. reported that three of its missionaries had been fatally shot by armed assailants.
Davy Lloyd, 23, and his wife Natalie Baker Lloyd, 21, were among the missionaries killed.
The couple was at the mission church in Haiti, escorting several children, when they were ambushed by members of the Terre Nwa/Terre Noire gang.
David Lloyd, 48, Davy’s father, revealed he was on the phone with his son during the attack.
“I was on the phone with my son when that was going down. He said, “Dad we’ve got a commotion again. I’ve got to see what’s going on,'” David recounted.
He further described the brutal ordeal his son endured: “They drove him into the house, tied him up and beat him. Then they proceeded to loot the whole house, everything they wanted and took my trucks and drove off with them.”
David Lloyd explained that despite the increase in gang violence that began in late February, Davy and Natalie were optimistic about their safety.
The young couple married in June 2022 and moved to Haiti three months later to serve as full-time missionaries, committed to their work despite the dangers.
Port-au-Prince has been grappling with severe gang violence, with the situation deteriorating further after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in 2021.
In light of these events, the United States supports the swift arrival of Kenyan police, hoping to stabilize the increasingly chaotic environment.
A spokesperson from the National Security Council said on Friday, “The security situation in Haiti cannot wait.”
The spokesperson confirmed President Biden’s commitment to facilitating the Kenya-led force during discussions with Kenyan President William Ruto.
The violence in Haiti has displaced over 360,000 people and claimed at least 1,500 lives this year alone.
Amid these challenges, the deployment of the Kenyan force, comprising up to 2,500 personnel and primarily financed by the U.S., hopes to restore peace.
However, the mission’s specifics remain uncertain, with questions about the authority and operational focus of the incoming forces.
“Do they have arrest authority? Are they going to be offensively going against the gangs, or are they going to be protecting infrastructure and not moving around? Nobody knows,” Daniel Foote, a former U.S. special envoy to Haiti, expressed his concerns.
Many Haitians are also skeptical about foreign interventions, given past experiences where international efforts failed to secure long-term stability or address fundamental issues.
Despite these concerns, President Ruto assured that the deployment would greatly impact the criminal gangs plaguing Haiti.
During a press conference in Washington, D.C., President Ruto said Kenya “believes the responsibility of peace and security anywhere in the whole world, including Haiti, is the responsibility of all nations.”
