A Haitian police SWAT unit and Kenyan police walk up a steep hill to board an armoured vehicle after one of their vehicles broke down while on patrol in a Port-au-Prince neighbourhood on 28 June 2024, after the arrival of the first contingent of Kenyan police as part of a peacekeeping mission. (Photo: Reuters / Ricardo Arduengo) 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.
(Reporting by Hereward Holland in Nairobi; Editing by David Alire Garcia)