President William Ruto landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday evening, 100 days after flagging off the Kenyan police contingent of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) to the Caribbean nation.
State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said the Head of State is in Caribbean nation to assess the mission, sanctioned by the United Nations, and led by the Kenyan forces.
“The President is in Haiti to assess the progress of the MSS mission, visit and commend the Kenyan contingent working alongside their Haitian counterparts, and meet with the Transitional Presidential Council, led by H.E. Edgard LeBlanc, as well as members of the Haitian Cabinet,” Mr Mohamed said in a social media update.
A tentative programme provided to the media also indicated that the President was expected to make a detour to Haiti on Saturday, to get an update of the experiences of the Kenyan police officers, before heading to the UN meeting.
This is the first time the President has travelled to the Caribbean since he assumed office in 2022.
Speaking to Nation.Africa, Mr Godfrey Otunge, the Commander of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission said they were ready to receive the President anytime on Saturday.
Touring Porto-Au-Prince is significant because part of his agenda in New York, a dispatch showed, will be to discuss the welfare of the MSS, whose mandate expires next month but is expected to be renewed by the UN Security Council for another year.
“The Head of State is jetting to have a word with the officers who are in high spirits and out to ensure that peace is restored here in Haiti,” the State House Spokesperson said.
Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council communication team said President Ruto's visit is part of strengthening the bilateral relationships between the two countries.
“The visit is part of strengthening of bilateral relations between the Republic of Haiti and Kenya, with a particular emphasis on cooperation in matters of security and development,” a statement by the team reads.
Mr Edgard Le-Blanc Fils who is the head of a Presidential Transition Council in Haiti that gave a nod to the deployment of Kenyan officers in Haiti will discuss with President Ruto “issues of international interest.”
President Ruto is expected to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
This comes barely a week after the Kenyan officers, alongside their those attached to the Haiti National Police, arrested two gang leaders.
The two gang leaders are members of the Chen Mechan and Pierre 6 gangs and are currently in police custody where they are being grilled on the way of operations of the gangs in the Caribbean based country.
The operations targeted gang controlled areas which include; Port-Au-Prince Downtown, Ganthler, Delmas, APN Port, Crole des Bouquets and Tahare Carrefour areas.
During the operation, a double wall was erected by the 400 Mawazo gang on the National Road 88 in Croix-Des-Bouquets which is a commune in the Ouest department of Haiti.
Mr Otunge said the destruction of the wall has enabled free traffic flow of vehicles and the local population. In addition to the arrests, the police also recovered some weapons from the gangs.
“Some of the key areas that the joint operations have been able to recapture and maintain dominance patrols include various streets in Delmas that include number, 33,31,24,27,20,18.15,14,12,10,8,6 and 4 that were completely gang dominated prior to the operations where both vehicular and human traffic had been cut off with locals deserting these areas. Businesses had also shut down,” Mr Otunge said.
Already, a number of towns in Haiti have witnessed human activities which was not the case in the past.
The towns include L’avenue Hallé Sélastié le Boulevard Toussaint Louverture (Route de l'Aéroport), l'Avenue Henri Christophe, la Rue Capols, l'Avenue Christophe, l'Avenue Lamartinière (Bois Vernoj, and Rue de la Réunion.
Others are l’Avenue la fleur du chêne, l’Avenue de la République, Rue Capio (Champs de Mars), Rue Saint-Honoré, Grand Rue (Blvd Jean Jacques Dessalines), Rue Saint Honoré Avenue Magloire Amboise-Route des Dalles (Eglise Wedrycone).
