Haiti gang crisis ‘not Mission Impossible,’ says Kenyan leader as he urges global support at UNGA

“The situation in Haiti can be solved. It is not Mission Impossible,” Ruto said on September 22 at a high-level meeting on Haiti during the United Nations General Assembly.

The Kenyan leader emphasised that the greatest obstacles to the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) were not the gangs themselves, but the logistical shortcomings that hampered operations.

“The biggest challenge and impediment was logistics, transport, support,” he said. “If that remains unpredictable, I'm afraid the next mission may suffer the same as MSS, and therefore it is very important that, as we create that transition, we make sure that resources, resourcing the new mission becomes at the heart of the transition.”

Ruto credited the United States with trying to fill some of those gaps. But he also underlined how inadequate resources placed personnel at risk, pointing to the consequences of being supplied with unreliable equipment.

“They did make available logistics, vehicles, but unfortunately, most of the vehicles were secondhand vehicles, and therefore they broke down a lot, many times, and in fact, it put our personnel in great danger when they broke down in very dangerous places,” he said. “But at least they stepped up. We didn't, however, get any useful support from any other quarter.”

Turning to the Haitian gangs themselves, Ruto downplayed their strength, insisting they retreat quickly when challenged. He suggested that their tactics showed vulnerability rather than strength.

“The gangs, in my very honest opinion, are cowards,” he said. “With very minimal intervention, they have literally gone into hiding, occasionally showing up. Some guerrilla warfare of some sort."

The president also defended the performance of the MSS.

“The achievements of the MSS are too often understated,” he said. “When the first contingent arrived in Port au Prince few could have imagined that a Boeing 787 one day, would land at the local airport without a risk of being brought down.”

Ruto also reiterated his message: that the international community had the means to turn the tide in Haiti, provided it acted with urgency and provided adequate support.

“Therefore, I thought I would use this meeting moving to the attention of the international community that the situation in Haiti can and must be solved.”