Kenya: Ruto Promises Another 600 Soldiers to Haiti
Kenyan President William Ruto, Sept 2024 Photo: @BusInsiderSSA
September 24, 2024 Hour: 4:13 pm
The situation has not shown any major improvement in Haiti and troops from the Bahamas, Barbados, Bangladesh, Chad, Benin and Belize are expected to arrive by the end of September with a strength of 2,500.
Kenyan President William Ruto announced the arrival of another 600 Kenyan troops to join the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMSS), which under his leadership, was deployed three months ago in Haiti to help the police of that country face the onslaught of armed gangs.
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Ruto arrived last Saturday in Haiti on an official visit where he was received by the chairman of the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), Edgard Leblanc Fils; the director of the National Police, Normil Rameau; and Ketleen Florestal, acting Prime Minister in the absence of Garry Conille, who will participate in the UN General Assembly.
The Kenyan leader, on his way to New York for the UN meeting, confessed that his visit to the Caribbean country had two objectives: meet and share ideas with the Haitian authorities, and visit the base of his troops, At a press conference with Leblanc Fils, he said he saw “much progress”.
Ruto recalled that many were critical and pessimistic about the mission, approved in October 2023 by the multinational agency following a request made a year earlier by Haiti to eradicate gang violence. In his view, this “doubt, criticism and pessimism” still persists because the mission should now have 2,500 personnel.
“The troops we have in Haiti are not enough. We should have 2,500 men and women in this force. We only have 400. We also have logistical problems. We lack resources. We don’t have enough tools to continue the work,” he said. But Kenya will send another 300 people in October, and the same number will arrive in November, he promised.
“The job is hard, but we are able to do it,” he said. “But there’s good news. Many more countries are beginning to commit to helping Haiti. There will be a deployment of another 20 countries that have committed to send people to join the multinational force,” he said.
For his part, Leblanc Fils said that the force “has begun to give results”, but that “it is necessary to strengthen the mission by increasing the number of troops and equipment, so that it can achieve its objective and allow the State to take over responsibility for the country’s security after this support,” he admitted.
The deployment of MMSS began on 25 July with the arrival of 400 Kenyan police, joined by soldiers from Jamaica and Belize. The situation has not shown any major improvement in Haiti and troops from the Bahamas, Barbados, Bangladesh, Chad, Benin and Belize are expected to arrive by the end of September with a strength of 2,500.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: Listin Diario-HaitiLibre
