The Miami Herald
By Jacqueline CharlesUpdated September 21, 2024 7:27 PM

Kenya President William Ruto is promising to send an additional 600 police officers to Haiti over the next two months and to plea for additional money to fund a struggling, ill-equipped international armed mission to the country headed by his East African nation.

Ruto made the announcement Saturday during a brief stopover in Haiti while on his way to this week’s high level meeting of world leaders at the United Nations. Ruto currently has 400 specialized police officers in Haiti as part of the first contingent of foreign security personnel involved in the U.N.-backed and largely U.S. funded Multinational Security Support mission.

After arriving onboard a Kenya Airways flight at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Ruto descended the stairway and was greeted by members of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council and the head of the Multinational Security Support mission, Godfrey Otunge. Ruto then toured the base of the mission where he, members of his delegation and Haitian authorities met in discussions before addressing the press.

Ruto’s visit came as the Kenya-led mission faces equipment and funding shortages, and the Biden administration seeks to have the mission transform into a formal U.N. peacekeeping operation later this month when the Security Council meets to decide on whether to extend the mission for another year. Ruto is expected to focus heavily on Haiti when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly. Observers believe the purpose of the visit was for him to see for himself how the mission was doing, but also to build his argument during meetings in New York.

“He’s hoping more countries will pledge to send troops and send more money for the mission in order for it to be more effective and have more resources,” said Fritz Jean, a member of the Transitional Presidential Council.

Jean said he believe Ruto’s visit to Port-au-Prince was done in good faith and “we’re hoping that what he wants to accomplish, he can.”

The one-year security mission was approved in October by the Security Council. Its deployment, however, was delayed by several months due to court challenges in Nairobi over Ruto’s promise to send a 1,000 Kenyan cops to lead it; funding blocks in Washington by Republican lawmakers not totally convinced of the plan; and later by the armed gang insurgency in late February that led to the U.S. pulling its support for then prime minister Ariel Henry.

Soon after, Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to Jamaica, where together with the Caribbean Community, the U.S. helped carve a path toward elections through the formation of a nine member Transitional Presidential Council.

But seven months later, the council has been engulfed in scandal after three of its seven voting members were accused of soliciting a nearly $800,000 bribe from the director of a state-owned commercial bank to keep his job. The council as a group has not addressed the allegations, and the three accused council members have refused to step down despite pressure by their respective parties and the Caribbean Community to do so.

In a huge slap in the face to the transitional body, the U.S. State Department on Friday informed the Haitian government that they will not be providing a protective detail for Council President Edgard Leblanc Fils, who was scheduled to provide Haiti’s address before the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.

The State Department, which is providing Secret Service protection for Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, did not specify why it was not providing the same service to Leblanc, whom U.S. authorities have started to refer to as “coordinator” rather than president.

On Saturday as Ruto prepared to depart Port-au-Prince, Leblanc informed reporters that he would not be traveling to New York. He had intended to travel aboard Ruto’s aircraft. Presidential Council member Leslie Voltaire, who has some bilateral meetings scheduled in New York, did leave and it remains unclear if he or Conille will be the one to address the assembly, or if there will be no Haiti address.

Leblanc has recalled both Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S. and the U.N. to seek an answer as to why the U.S. is not providing him with protection, a source familiar with the discussions informed the Miami Herald.

This story was originally published September 21, 2024, 7:19 PM.