Kenyan opposition lawmakers say the Haiti peacekeeping mission must be approved by parliament

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan lawmakers say that parliamentary approval is required before the deployment of police to the Kenya-led peacekeeping mission in Haiti to combat gang violence that was approved by the U.N. Security Council this week. Opposition lawmaker Anthony Oluoch told a session of Parliament’s lower house on Wednesday that the conditions for foreign deployment hadn’t been met under the National Police Act. He also said that the country’s security needs “ought to take first precedence before any foreign commitments.” He was alluding to the internal attacks by the East Africa-based al-Shabab extremist group, which has links to al-Qaida.