President William Ruto is expected to make a visit to Port-au-Prince in Haiti to interact with Kenyan police officers deployed there for a UN-backed mission to fight criminal gangs there.
Ruto left Kenya on the night of Friday, September 20, 2024 for the UN General Assembly in New York.
He landed in New York on Saturday at about 3pm Kenyan time and was scheduled to take another flight to Miami then connect to Port-au-Prince.
He was expected to make a detour to Haiti on Saturday to learn about the experiences of the police troops before heading to the UN meeting.
He will later go on the ground to visit the 400 Kenyan troops who are part of the Multinational Security Support Mission deployed in the Caribbean nation
Ruto’s visit comes several months after Kenya deployed its officers to Haiti to lead a multinational contingent to aid the Haitian police.
The commander of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission Godfrey Otunge, said they were ready to receive the President anytime on Saturday.
It will make the first time the President had travelled to the Caribbean since he took power in 2022.
Officials said touring Porto-Au-Prince is significant because part of his agenda in New York, a dispatch showed, will be to discuss the welfare of the MSS, whose mandate expires next month but is expected to be renewed by the UN Security Council. For another year.
“He will have word with the officers who are in high spirits and out to ensure that peace is restored here in Haiti,” officials said.
Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council communication team said that the visit is part of strengthening the bilateral relationships between the two countries.
“The visit is part of strengthening of bilateral relations between the Republic of Haiti and Kenya, with a particular emphasis on cooperation in matters of security and development,” a statement by the team read.
It further stated Edgard Le-Blanc Fils who is the head of a Presidential Transition Council in Haiti that gave a nod to the deployment of Kenyan officers in Haiti will discuss with the Head of State “issues of international interest.”
The communication team said that it will reveal more details of the visit with due time.
Ruto departed Kenya and is expected to participate in the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
This comes barely a week after the Kenyan officers alongside their those attached to the Haiti National Police arrested two gang leaders.
The mission has been plagued by logistical problems and cost overruns, leading the United States to explore a new format for the mission at the United Nations.
However, his visit comes hours after Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille left the country for the US to attend the 79th UN General Assembly.
The troops have managed to liberate a number of places in the capital city as operations go on.
Kenyan Police, jointly with Haitian officers undertook security patrols within the streets of Delmas last week, during which several gang members were arrested.
According to the police boss, among those cornered during the raid included two “Chen Mechan and Pierre 6” gang leaders.
“Some of the key areas that the joint operations have been able to recapture and maintain dominance patrols include various streets in Delmas,” Otunge said.
More than two months after the first contingents of Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti to head a largely U.S.-funded multinational security force, the Biden administration is exploring the possibility of transitioning to a traditional United Nations peacekeeping operation. The State Department, which in the face of funding and equipment shortfalls has been mulling over the possibility of transforming the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support, has notified U.S. lawmakers of its intentions.
The switch is both an acknowledgment of the administration’s struggle to attract voluntary contributions for the mission, which the administration says roughly costs $200 million every six months to operate, and of its failure to quickly restore order in Haiti despite public pronouncements that there has been progress since the Kenyans’ arrival.
Kenyan police are in Haiti to help the Caribbean nation stabilize from gangs.
A traditional U.N. peacekeeping operation would end the mission’s problems with funding, because it would be paid for through member nations’ traditionally assessed contributions.
It would also provide more equipment like helicopters, which the current Kenya-led mission lacks, and possibly a hospital capable of performing surgeries.
Also the U.N. would be able to mobilize military forces, rather than just cops, from other nations in a way that the U.S. has been unable to do.
A peacekeeping mission would need the approval of the U.N. Security Council, and there are questions about whether its members, especially China and Russia, would support it.
There are currently 400 Kenyans police officers in Haiti tasked with helping the Haitian police take on gangs that have continued to force people out of their homes.
The Kenyans have been joined by troops from Jamaica and Belize.
The mission was first authorized by the Security Council in October 2023 for a year.
The first contingent of 200 Kenyans arrived in Port-au-Prince on June 25 and a second group on July 16.
Despite their presence, several neighborhoods on the outskirts of the capital have since fallen under gang control and Haitians, both in the population and the police, have quietly expressed disappointment with the mission.