Ruto makes impromptu visit to Haiti to meet Kenyan police

President William Ruto landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Saturday 100 days after flagging off the Kenyan police contingent of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) to the Caribbean country.

State House said Ruto was in Haiti to assess the progress of the MSS mission, visit and commend the Kenyan contingent working alongside their Haitian counterparts and meet with the Transitional Presidential Council, led by Edgard LeBlanc, as well as members of the Haitian Cabinet.

He flew from Nairobi on Friday night and landed in New York aboard a Kenya Airways flight which he proceeded with to Haiti taking up to 20 hours on air.

Local officials said  Ruto 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.

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 the 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 added Fils, who is the head of a Presidential Transition Council 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 would reveal more details of the visit in due time.

Ruto is expected to participate in the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

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.

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.

Among those cornered during the raid included two “Chen Mechan and Pierre 6” gang leaders.

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 neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the capital have since fallen under gang control.

Haitians, both in the population and the police, have quietly expressed disappointment with the mission.

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 acknowledgement 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.