Before their intended deployment to Haiti, the US and Kenya negotiate a defense agreement

A defense deal between the United States and Kenya was inked on Monday. Kenya will get funding and support for security deployments as it prepares to head a multinational peacekeeping effort to curb gang violence in Haiti.

At a meeting in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Kenya's Defense Minister Aden Duale and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed the agreement. As the conflict in East Africa increases against the extremist group al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, the agreement directs the defense relations between the two nations for the next five years.

Austin expressed gratitude to Kenya for offering to assume command of the Haiti multinational force and restated the US government's commitment to working with Congress to obtain the $100 million in funds that Kenya had promised to provide before the UN General Assembly.

Although formal authorisation from the U.N. Security Council is still pending, Kenya has committed to sending 1,000 security professionals to Haiti in order to curb gang violence. The U.N. and the U.S. have both expressed support for this operation.