On September 21, 2024, Kenyan President William Ruto landed in Haiti. The UN is debating how best to assist resource-constrained Kenyan and Jamaican soldiers in their peacekeeping efforts since they have had difficulty controlling the gangs that are terrorizing the Caribbean nation.
Ruto exited the aircraft and proceeded past armed security guards on a narrow stretch of red carpet, surrounded by further authorities. He was supposed to meet with cops fighting the gangs in a Kenyan base at the airport.
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The first country to send troops was Kenya, as part of a broader U.N. attempt to provide international support to Haiti, which descended into political unrest and violence when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021.
Approximately twenty troops and police officers from Jamaica arrived in the nation earlier this month. However, the US and other nations have claimed that the soldiers are insufficient and unequipped to combat gangs, who hold nearly 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
It was unclear when the police and military from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, and Chad would arrive for the operation, which is projected to include 2,500 men in all.
Even while the US has floated the concept of a UN peacekeeping mission, it would be unrealistic and divisive considering the outbreak of cholera and the cases of sexual assault that transpired during the last time U.N. forces were in Haiti.
A UN human rights specialist issued a warning, stating that gang violence in Haiti is only growing and that the country’s National Police still lack the “logistical and technical capacity” to combat the gangs as they continue to seize more territory.
Days before Ruto’s arrival, Haiti established a temporary electoral council that the world community had long urged be established to enable the nation’s first general election since 2016.
Gangs have only become more powerful in the power vacuum created by Moïse’s killing. Along with the peacekeeping effort, many believe that a general election will aid in bringing order back to Haiti.
