President William Ruto arrived in Haiti on Saturday, claiming that because of a Kenyan police force battling gangs “the country’s security has significantly improved.”
Ruto’s claim was contradicted by a United Nations security expert, who just days earlier warned that violence in the country was worsening as gangs expand their control over the Caribbean nation.
Ruto stepped off the plane, walking passed armed officers on a small patch of red carpet flanked by other officials. He headed to a Kenyan base at the airport where he met with police tasked with battling the gangs and a number of high-ranking Haitian and Canadian officials.
“You have represented the people of Kenya with courage, professionalism, selflessness, compassion and sufficiency,” Ruto told Kenyan police surrounding him as he stood at a podium.
He claimed that Kenyan forces have boosted security infrastructure and allowed displaced Haitians to return home after fleeing violence, though many Haitians say violence is just as bad, if not worse, than it was when the police were deployed in June.
