- author, Katrina Perry
- role, BBC News
- Reported by Washington DC
Kenyan President William Ruto said a peacekeeping police force is due to arrive in Haiti within about three weeks to quell growing gang violence.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Root confirmed that planning teams had already arrived in Haiti and had met with local police to make arrangements before Kenyan troops were deployed.
Ruto’s remarks came as he concluded a three-day trip to Washington DC – the first official visit to the US by an African leader in more than 15 years.
During the visit, the White House called for the immediate deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force after an American couple was named among three missionaries killed in Haiti on Friday.
“My team is already in Haiti as I speak to you,” Mr Root told the BBC on Friday.
“This will provide an overview of the local situation, the capacities available and the infrastructure in place.”
“Once we have an agreed-upon assessment with the Haitian police and the Haitian leadership, we expect to be ready to deploy in about three weeks, once all preparations are in place on the ground,” he added.
Kenya offered last year to lead a U.N.-backed multinational security force to restore order to the Caribbean island.
Following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, gangs have seized large parts of Haiti, bringing violence and destruction to the besieged capital, Port-au-Prince.
Two American missionaries were killed by a gang in Haiti on Friday.
Mr Root told the BBC that incidents like this were “precisely why” his country was preparing to send in police forces.
“We shouldn’t lose people. We shouldn’t lose missionaries,” he said.
“We’re doing this to stop any more people losing their lives to gangs.”
The United States is also part of a multinational coalition working with Kenya.
“The security situation in Haiti cannot wait,” a spokesman for the National Security Council said Friday.
President Joe Biden reportedly promised to support the “rapid deployment” of troops during his meeting with Ruto.
Root said the base, which is being built in partnership with the United States to house soldiers and equipment, is “about 70 percent complete.”
The situation on the ground in Haiti has become so desperate that last year UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described it as a “living nightmare”.
But the process of sending armed aid has been delayed.
President Ruto said the government was taking careful steps to ensure security concerns were addressed, including planning for equipment and infrastructure and building relationships with Haitian police.
Kenya’s High Court has also set a date of June 2 to hear opposition concerns challenging the lawfulness of the deployment of Kenya Police forces.
However, President Ruto assured the BBC that he had a written agreement with Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council to ensure that Kenya’s presence was accepted as a “peace-building” force, not an occupying one.
The council said it would respect Loutt’s agreement, which was signed by Haiti’s former prime minister, Ariel Henry.
Henry resigned in March after weeks of growing pressure and escalating violence across the country.
Haiti is not the only country in crisis that Root is focusing on.
The president said “we have Kenyans deployed to 15 missions around the world,” including in neighbouring Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ruto also said he was in talks with Sudan’s warring factions, where “the level of human suffering is unacceptable.”
Asked by the BBC if he felt the international community was losing interest in the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, Root said: “Yes.”
“I think what’s happening in Ukraine, what’s happening in the Middle East, is taking away attention from what’s happening in Sudan and in our region,” he said.
All these situations require equal attention, Root said, and he discussed this with Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit this week.
The White House designated Kenya a non-NATO ally on Thursday, making it the first sub-Saharan African country to receive this designation.
Non-NATO ally status would allow the Nairobi government to engage in closer security cooperation with Washington and gain access to more sophisticated U.S.-made weaponry.
The move strengthens diplomatic ties between the United States and Kenya at a time when opinion polls show Western influence in Africa is declining and being replaced by Russia and China.
When the BBC asked Root if the US was a good ally, he replied: “It’s not a question of people trying to say whether we’re looking west or east.”
