More Kenyan police arrive in Haiti

7/2/2025 6:23

A contingent of 144

additional Kenyan police arrived in the Haitian capital on

Thursday, part of a U.N.-backed Multinational Security Support

(MSS) mission that aims to support local police battling

powerful gangs, Kenya's government announced on X.



Kenyan President William Ruto wrote on X that he spoke with

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and praised what he

described as the specific exemption to MSS funding from a

broader freeze on U.S. government assistance.



Violent gangs, armed with weapons largely trafficked

from the United States, have united in the Caribbean country's

capital Port-au-Prince under a common alliance and now control

most of the city. They have also been expanding their control to

nearby areas.



Earlier this week, the United Nations warned that over



$13 million in U.S. funding



for the security force had been frozen under President

Donald Trump's 90-day pause on foreign aid.



The MSS mission, while backed by the U.N. Security

Council, is not a United Nations operation and currently relies

on voluntary contributions. The mission has so far made little

progress toward helping Haiti restore order.