Kenyan UN workers feared dead in Haiti

By Maseme Machuka

Two Kenyans working with the United Nations are believed to be among more than 50,000 people killed in Haiti’s earthquake disaster.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Minister Richard Onyonka said the Kenyan High Commissioner to Canada, Mr Simon Nabukwesi, will coordinate "activities pertaining to what happened in Haiti and how many Kenyans may have been affected".

Onyonka said Kenya was also monitoring the situation through Kenya’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, Mr Zachary D Muburi Muita, to ascertain how many Kenyans were in the Haitian mission.

"We have contacted them to ascertain the names and the positions they held and their whereabouts," said Onyonka who spoke to The Standard on Saturday.

"All efforts are being made to follow up on the safety of any Kenyan stranded or those who may have died," Onyonka said.

He asked those with relatives in Haiti to furnish the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with their personal details.

Military personnel

Senior UN official David Wimhurst said four UN police officials, 13 civilian staff and 19 military personnel were among the dead.

"Sadly, we must expect to recover more bodies," Wimhurst told Reuters. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said 150 UN staff remained unaccounted for.

He said he had no news about the fate of the head of the peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Hedi Annabi of Tunisia.

Deliver aid

The UN force, which includes about 9,000 troops and police from more than 40 countries, was sent to the country in 2004 to help bring stability after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted by armed gangs and former soldiers.

Haiti has been run by President Rene Preval since May 2006, when it returned to constitutional rule. Ban and Wimhurst stressed that, along with efforts to rescue its own people, the United Nations was still working to maintain law and order and deliver aid in the poverty-stricken country.