President William Ruto held a phone conversation on Thursday with UN Secretary-General António Guterres regarding the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti, which is currently being led by Kenya.
More than 800 Kenyan police officers have been deployed to the Caribbean nation as part of the mission. During their Thursday night discussion, Guterres commended Kenya’s leadership and reaffirmed support for the country’s efforts to stabilize Haiti.
“He acknowledged Kenya’s leadership role and commended our steadfast commitment to our shared goal of restoring stability in Haiti,” Ruto said in a post on social media.
The conversation comes at a critical time, as gang violence continues to escalate in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Two Kenyan officers have been killed and at least three others wounded since deployment began in June last year. Some officers have reported facing severe resource shortages, which have hampered operations on the ground.
Tensions reached new heights on Wednesday, April 2, when thousands of Haitians marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince, protesting against the worsening security situation and demanding the resignation of transitional leaders and the head of the national police.
Demonstrators—some armed with machetes and firearms—clashed with riot police who responded with tear gas and, according to local media, live ammunition. Protesters burned tires, blocked roads, and carried symbolic red and black flags, once associated with Haiti’s Duvalier regime but now representing broader opposition movements.
At one point, the crowd tore down and smashed a billboard near the offices of the Transitional Presidential Council and Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The protest was organized by a police officer based in the presidential palace, who also leads a civilian defense brigade in Canapé-Vert, a neighborhood recently attacked by gangs.
This demonstration, one of the largest since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021, underscored growing frustration with the transitional government’s failure to restore order. Despite a political accord brokered in March 2024 by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United States to stabilize the country through a power-sharing arrangement, little progress has been made.
With elections unlikely this year and a constitutional referendum still pending, Haiti remains mired in chaos. Corruption allegations have also engulfed the nine-member presidential council, further eroding public trust.
Currently, criminal gangs control as much as 90% of Port-au-Prince. In a recent attack, gangs stormed the town of Mirebalais in the Central Plateau, setting fire to a police station, freeing over 500 inmates from prison, and looting homes, schools, and churches.
In the violence, two Roman Catholic nuns—Sister Evanette Onezaire and Sister Jeanne Voltaire—were killed after gunmen stormed a house where they had taken shelter with a young girl.
In response, police deployed reinforcements, replaced the local police chief, and confiscated equipment used by the gangs, including an armored loader.
According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, the attacks in Mirebalais and neighboring Saut d’Eau forced nearly 6,000 people to flee their homes.
Further protests are expected in Port-au-Prince and in the city of Léogâne as the population continues to reel from the rising violence and lack of effective governance.
