Seven countries from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia on the weekend expressed their willingness to contribute agents for the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), which will be deployed in Haiti to assist the Haitian police.

The seven are Kenya, Benin, and Chad from the African continent, The Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados from the Caribbean, and Bangladesh from the Asian continent. They notified the United Nations (UN) secretary general on Friday of their willingness to join in on its mission to Haiti.

Sources say some countries, such as Chad and Bangladesh, have experience in international deployments as blue helmets in peacekeeping missions. However, the UN has always made it clear that the mission in Haiti will not be for peacekeeping but merely for support, being subordinate to the Haitian National Police.

It now seems the UN will not have any problems obtaining the estimated 2,000 agents needed for this mission. But its formation faces another major drawback, as the trust fund opened to finance the mission has only managed to raise US$18 million, when it is estimated that the mission will need US$240 million a year for its operation.

Of those amount raised so far, Canada has provided the most (US$8.7 million), followed by the U.S. (US$6 million) and France (US$3.2 million). The spokesperson’s office once again urged member states to be more generous and fill the gap to cover all the needs.

Haiti sinking in chaos

While the MSS is being finalised, the French-speaking Caribbean country is sinking into chaos with large parts of the capital in the control of criminal gangs, the port and airport closed to international traffic, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons, and more than 5 million Haitians dependent on humanitarian aid.

Kenyan President William Ruto has assured that his country “is ready and willing” to send police to help restore order in Haiti, after the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) was installed on Thursday. The impoverished Caribbean state has plunged into a severe violence crisis.

“Kenya assures Haiti’s CPT of its full support as it guides the country through this complex interregnum,” Ruto said in a message posted on his X profile late Thursday.

Kenya, he stressed, is “ready and willing, in concert with a broad alliance of African and CARICOM nations, committed to Haiti’s stability, to swiftly execute the security support infrastructure envisioned” in UN Security Council Resolution 2699.