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Kenya's President Ruto Visits Port-au-Prince, Commits 600 More Officers, Considers Expanding Mission

Sep 22, 2024, 06:26 AM

Kenyan President William Ruto has arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for his first official visit to meet with Kenyan police troops deployed under the Multinational Security Support mission (MSS). This visit, which comes 100 days after flagging off the Kenyan police contingent, occurred on Saturday evening ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week, where Ruto is expected to defend the MSS mission, whose mandate is up for renewal in October. During his visit, Ruto assessed the security situation and expressed openness to converting the MSS mission into a full United Nations peacekeeping operation. He also committed to deploying an additional 600 police officers to Haiti and called on the international community to provide more support for the mission. The Kenyan-led MSS, supported by the United Nations Security Council, has been working to combat gang violence in Haiti, but has faced challenges due to resource constraints.