Haiti Crisis: Kenyan Court Halts Deployment of Soldiers.
A Kenyan high court has blocked the plans of the government to deploy police officers to Haiti or any other country pending the hearing of a petition filed by the concerned citizens.
The judge cited issues raised in the application as being of national importance and public interest.
Recall that the UN had earlier agreed to the request of the Caribbean Nations Prime Ministers to send Kenyan forces to Haiti to stop the gang violence.
The former presidential candidate Ekuru Aukot, said the proposed deployment was unconstitutional and argued that there is a question mark over whether regular police can actually be deployed on international assignments.
Mr Aukot added that the country could not afford to spare 1,000 officers before addressing insecurity at home citing the case of the ethnic clashes in western Kenya that left seven people dead.
Recently the coastal region of Lamu has seen attacks from the Somalia-based al-Shabab militant group forcing the area to be under curfew.
Speaking on Sunday, Professor Abraham Kithure Kindiki, the interior minister stressed that the deployment would not compromise the safety and security of the country.
The court is expected to issue further directions at the end of October.
