Kenyan President Says Police Will Arrive in Haiti in Three Weeks

Kenya’s President William Ruto said his peacekeeping police force is expected to arrive in Haiti to help quell growing gang violence in about three weeks.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Mr Ruto confirmed that a planning team was already in Haiti and had met with local police to make arrangements ahead of the deployment of Kenyan troops.

Mr Ruto’s comments come as he concludes a three-day trip to Washington DC, the first official state visit by an African leader to the United States in more than 15 years.

During his trip, the White House called for the rapid deployment of the Kenyan-led multinational force, after an American couple was named among three missionaries killed Friday in Haiti.

“I already have a team in Haiti as I speak to you,” Mr Ruto told the BBC on Friday.

“That will give us an idea of ​​what things look like on the ground, what capabilities are available, what infrastructure has been put in place.”

He added: “Once we have this assessment that we have agreed with the Haitian police and the Haitian leadership, we are looking at a horizon of about three weeks for us to be ready to deploy, once everything on the ground is ruler. ”

Last year, Kenya offered to lead a U.N.-backed multinational security force to restore order on the Caribbean island.

Gangs have taken over much of Haiti, bringing violence and destruction to its besieged capital, Port-au-Prince, following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.

Two American missionaries were killed in Haiti by gangs on Friday.

Mr Ruto told the BBC that these types of events are “exactly” why his country is preparing to send in its police forces.

“We shouldn’t lose people. We shouldn’t lose missionaries,” he said.

“We are doing this to prevent more people from losing their lives to gangs.”

The United States is also part of the multinational coalition working with Kenya.

“The security situation in Haiti cannot wait,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said Friday.

They said President Joe Biden pledged support for the “accelerated deployment” of the force during his talks with President Ruto.

Mr Ruto said a base where troops and equipment will be kept – being built in collaboration with the United States – is “about 70 per cent complete”.

The situation on the ground is becoming desperate in Haiti and was described last year by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as “a living nightmare.”

However, the process of sending armed assistance has faced delays.

President Ruto said his government had moved cautiously to ensure security concerns were addressed, including equipment, infrastructure and building relationships with the Haitian police.

The High Court of Kenya also set a date of June 2 to hear the opposition party’s concerns challenging the legality of the deployment of Kenyan police forces.

But President Ruto assured the BBC that there is a written agreement with Haiti’s presidential transition council to ensure that Kenya’s presence will be seen as a “peacemaking” force and not a force of ‘occupation.

The council signaled its intention to honor Mr. Ruto’s agreement, which was signed by former Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Mr. Henry resigned in March after weeks of mounting pressure and increasing violence in the country.

Haiti is not the only country in crisis that attracts Mr Ruto’s attention.

The president said he had Kenyans “in 15 different missions around the world,” including in neighboring Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Ruto said he was also in talks with warring factions in Sudan, a country where the “level of human suffering is unacceptable”.

Asked by the BBC if he thought the international community had lost focus on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, Mr Ruto replied: “Yes, it does.”

“I think what’s happening in Ukraine, what’s happening in the Middle East, has distracted from what’s happening in Sudan and in our region,” he said.

Mr Ruto said all these situations require equal attention, a point he discussed with Mr Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit this week.

The White House on Thursday designated Kenya a non-NATO ally, making it the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to receive this designation.

Non-NATO ally status will allow Nairobi to engage in closer security cooperation with Washington and obtain more sophisticated US weapons.

Although the move strengthens diplomatic relations between the United States and Kenya, Western influence in Africa is declining, according to polls, giving way to Russia and China.

When the BBC asked Mr Ruto if the United States was a favored ally, he replied: “It’s not about people trying to say whether we’re facing west or east.