HAITI-Kenya’s President reaffirms commitment to deploy police force to Haiti.

NAIROBI, Kenya, CMC – The President of Kenya, William Ruto, has reaffirmed that his country will still lead a United Nations-backed multi-national police force to help quell gang violence in Haiti once a transitional presidential council is formed in the Caribbean.

In a social media post, Ruto said that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had briefed him on the latest developments in Haiti and that he assured Blinken of Kenya’s commitment to deploy a police force to Haiti.

“I assured Secretary Blinken that Kenya will take leadership of the U.N. Security Support Mission in Haiti to restore peace and security,” Ruto said.

On Tuesday, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said Kenya had put on hold the deployment of 1,000 of its police officers until a transparent administration is in place in Haiti.

The announcement came after Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would resign once a presidential council is created.

Kenya had agreed to lead a U.N.-authorized international police force to Haiti last October, but the country’s top court ruled it unconstitutional in January, in part because of a lack of reciprocal agreements on such deployments between the two countries.

Ruto said that he and Henry had witnessed the signing of the reciprocal agreements between Kenya and Haiti on March 1, clearing the path for the deployment.

Under the plan, the U.N.-backed multi-national police led by Kenyan officers was to help quell gang violence that has long plagued Haiti. But violence escalated sharply since February 29, with gunmen burning police stations, closing the main international airports, and raiding the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Scores have been killed, and more than 15,000 are homeless after fleeing neighborhoods raided by gangs. Food and water are dwindling, and the main port in the capital of Port-au-Prince remains closed, stranding dozens of containers with critical supplies.

After returning from a trip to Kenya, where he had gone to salvage plans for the African country’s deployment, Henry was prevented from entering Haiti and has been in Puerto Rico since last week.