Ruto Lands In Haiti To Check On Deployed Kenyan Police

President William Ruto of Kenya landed in Port-Au-Prince Saturday to assess the Kenya-led security mission in Haiti. 

Ruto landed at Toussaint Louverture International Airport and is expected to meet Haiti’s transitional council amid rising violence ravaging the Caribbean nation, according to the United Nation (UN). 

State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed announced Ruto’s arrival at Port-au-Prince, saying that the head of state will be checking on the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) and to talk to Kenyan police in Haiti.

“The President is 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 H.E. Edgard LeBlanc, as well as members of the Haitian Cabinet,” Mohamed posted on X.

The visit to the war-torn nation comes three months after Ruto flagged the first contingent of Kenya police arriving in Haiti to help quell gang violence that has rocked the country for years, rendering it ungovernable. 

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Despite positive reports that the current security team has captured some territories initially controlled by gangs, the UN says more than 80 per cent of capital Port-au-Prince is still in the hands of the gangs. 

In February the then Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry visited Kenya seeking security support. However, his visit became his last time to land in foreign soil as a prime minister, since his attempt to go back to his country became futile after Haiti gangs threatened to shoot down his plane. He ended up resigning