MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Biden's cabinet members say they are pressing ahead with his agenda for the final six months of his term. That includes U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She visited Haiti yesterday to announce $60 million in aid for a country that's been mired in political turmoil and gang violence. NPR's Michele Kelemen traveled with her.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: At a hot, dusty base near the airport in Haiti's capital, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield gets an early look at some of the Kenyan troops now patrolling the streets with the Haitian National Police.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: ...Welcomes you to LSA 1 (ph). May I have your permission to dismiss the quarter guard, please, madam?
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: You do. Thank you very much.
KELEMEN: There are only about 400 Kenyans here so far, with more countries planning to pitch in more troops in the coming weeks. Thomas-Greenfield stood with the Kenyan commander and the head of the Haitian National Police in front of some U.S. MRAPs, calling the operation quite impressive.
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: And it shows, one, the Kenyan commitment, the Haitian National Police commitment but also the commitment of the international community to support Haiti.
KELEMEN: But when she sat down with Haitian activists, she heard how hard life has been since the country's president was assassinated in 2021.
SANDRINE KENOL WIENER: Every day we leave the office, we don't know when we're coming back.
KELEMEN: Sandrine Kenol Wiener, who runs the YWCA programs in Haiti, says it's dangerous for people to even leave their homes to come to their centers because gangs control the streets.
WIENER: So this is a state of mind where you have to do the best that you can every day because you don't know the next day how it's going to happen and if you're going to be able to provide the services or even if you're going to be able to see the same participants because they might, during the night, have had to flee their home.
KELEMEN: She and others talked about the widespread sexual violence in the country and the lack of accountability. Carline Sever, who runs a feminist group, is skeptical about the new Kenyan force, and the transitional government that's supposed to get Haiti back on track for elections.
CARLINE SEVER: (Speaking French).
KELEMEN: "Real trust will only start when we start to see results and Haitians can move around within the country," she says. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield says she understands the skepticism, given past international failures, but she thinks this is different.
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We're working very, very closely with the Kenyans to ensure that they got human rights training, that they got medical support, so I do think this mission is different.
KELEMEN: An Army veteran and U.S. contractor, John Wyrwas, shows her another difference - a new water treatment plant.
JOHN WYRWAS: And one of the big things we didn't want to contribute to was, like, another cholera outbreak or anything like that, so we've got to...
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yeah, it's a big concern.
KELEMEN: The last international force brought cholera to the country, so this new mission is taking extra precautions as it tries to build up trust among Haitians. Thomas-Greenfield was reluctant to speak about U.S. political turmoil while she was in Haiti, saying she's focused on the president's remaining time in office.
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We will all be working hard to deliver on his promise over that period and including to deliver on the promise to the people of Haiti.
KELEMEN: She's also reassuring Haiti's transitional government that there's a lot of support in Congress for continued U.S. aid. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Port-au-Prince.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
