Kenya's president visits Haiti as it grapples with future of international efforts to fight gangs

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Kenyan President William Ruto arrived in Haiti on Saturday as the United Nations grapples with how to best support resource-strapped Kenyan and Jamaican forces, which have struggled to contain the gangs terrorizing the Caribbean nation.

Ruto stepped off the plane, walking passed armed officers on a small patch of red carpet flanked by other officials. He headed to a Kenyan base at the airport where he met with police battling the gangs and a number of Haitian officials.

Kenya was the first nation to send forces as part of a larger effort by the U.N. to offer international support to Haiti, which has spiraled into conflict and political turmoil following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

About 400 Kenyan police are in Haiti. Earlier this month, about two dozen police and soldiers from Jamaica arrived in the country. But the United States and other countries have said that the forces aren't enough and lack resources to take on gangs, which control about 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The mission is expected to have a total of 2,500 personnel, with the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad also pledging to send police and soldiers, although it wasn’t clear when that would happen.

While the U.S. has bounced the idea of a U.N. peacekeeping force, the idea would be far-fetched and controversial given the introduction of cholera and sexual abuse cases that occurred when U.N. troops were last in Haiti.

Meanwhile, a U.N. human rights expert warned on Friday that gang violence is only spreading across Haiti and that Haiti’s National Police still lack the “logistical and technical capacity” to fight gangs, which continue to encroach on new territory.

Ruto's visit also comes days after Haiti created a provisional electoral council long sought by the international community to facilitate the first general election held in the country since 2016.

In the power vacuum left by Moïse’s assassination, gangs have only seized more power. Many hope a general election will also help restore order to Haiti alongside the peacekeeping mission.