US sees no need for delay in Kenyan mission to Haiti

"I would be concerned of course about any delay, but we don't think that there will need to be a delay," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

Kenya has offered to take the lead in an international mission with financial backing from the United States and Canada that aims to bring stability to Haiti, where armed gangs have seized much of the country.

Kenya has offered to take the lead in an international mission with financial backing from the United States and Canada that aims to bring stability to Haiti, where armed gangs have seized much of the country.

After a domestic court challenge, Kenya said it was sending forces as part of a reciprocal agreement with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

But Henry agreed on Monday to resign as part of a US-backed deal that would see a presidential transition council set up to form a new government.

"It's a perfectly natural thing to expect that they want to know that there's a government that can host them, that can make a request for them to deploy a mission," Miller said of Kenya.

The new transitional council should be formed "in the very near future, and that would pave the way for this mission to go forward without delay," Miller said.

Miller said that the new transitional council, which will name a prime minister and cabinet ahead of elections, should be formed in the next 24 to 48 hours.

He praised the resignation of Henry, who spoke Monday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken about his decision.

Blinken on Monday attended an emergency meeting in Jamaica over Haiti's spiraling crisis, after which Henry announced he had agreed to the transition deal.

"We commend Prime Minister Henry for his statesmanship and putting his country first," Miller said.