On Thursday, a group of Haitian nationals residing in the United States staged demonstrations outside Kenya’s embassy. The Haitians protested against President William Ruto's decision to deploy a thousand troops for a peacekeeping mission in their war-torn country.
The demonstrators held placards with messages directed at Kenya's head of state, demanding that Ruto halt the planned deployment to Haiti.
While marching around the Kenyan embassy in the US, the demonstrators chanted President Ruto's name, demanding he reverse the decision to deploy Kenyan troops to Haiti.
The protesters argued that it was hypocritical for the US to fund a peacekeeping effort in their war-torn nation while simultaneously encouraging gang violence there.
"Ruto is going to launch an invasion of Haiti. "Haitians reject occupation," the demonstrators said, expressing their dissatisfaction at the impending deployment.Shortly after President Ruto and US Vice President Joe Biden held a joint press conference to reaffirm their commitment to putting an end to violence in Haiti, protesters broke out.
In discussing the deployment, Ruto stated that Kenya was ready to protect Haitians from gang violence and clarified that Kenyans, not the US as claimed, had approved the mission.
"What happened in the past has no bearing on Kenya's involvement in Haiti. Kenya cannot be committed to Haiti by the USA. We, the Kenyan people, made this decision," Ruto declared.
"I made the decision because I am the President of Kenya. We have completed all the procedures in Kenya; it is the responsibility of the Kenyan people to commit their forces using their structure,"
