A group of Haitians living in the United States staged demos outside Kenya’s embassy on Thursday.
The protesters voiced opposition to President Ruto’s decision to send a thousand troops on a peacekeeping mission to their war-torn country.
The demonstrators carried placards with messages directed at Kenya’s head of state, urging Ruto to cancel the planned deployment to Haiti.
As they marched around the Kenyan embassy, the demonstrators chanted President Ruto’s name, demanding he reverse his decision to deploy Kenyan troops to Haiti.
They also accused the U.S government of instigating gang violence in Haiti, calling it ironic that America would similarly sponsor a peacekeeping mission in the war-ravaged country.
“What Ruto is about to do is to invade Haiti. Haitians say no to occupation,” the protestors said as they vented their frustration on the imminent deployment.
The protests erupted just minutes after President Ruto and U.S President Joe Biden held a joint press conference to affirm their commitment to ending violence in Haiti.
Commenting on the deployment, Ruto stated that the mission was approved by Kenyans, not the U.S. as alleged, and emphasized that Kenya was ready to help Haitians escape gang violence.
“Kenya’s participation in Haiti is not about what happened in the past. The USA cannot commit Kenya to Haiti. It is we, the people of Kenya who made this decision,” Ruto stated.
“I am the President of Kenya and it is me who made the decision. It is the role of the people of Kenya to commit their troops using their structure, we have gone through all the processes in Kenya,” he added.
Joe Biden, while clarifying the deployment, noted that the U.S could not be directly involved in the mission as it could be misinterpreted. Therefore, the U.S rallied Kenya to help end the violence in the Caribbean nation.
“We concluded that if the US deploys its forces to the northern hemisphere, it raises all kinds of questions that can be easily misrepresented by what is happening in Haiti,” Biden clarified.
“We concluded that if the US deploys its forces to the northern hemisphere, it raises all kinds of questions that can be easily misrepresented by what is happening in Haiti,” Biden clarified.
