Kenyan President William Ruto discusses US visit, supporting Haiti

and Selena Wang joins us now from the White House Selena you spoke with the president of Kenya and tell us about the conversation yeah Matt this was a wide raging conversation it comes shortly after he had that state visit with President Biden this is the first state visit of an African leader in more than 15 years but it comes as he's facing a lot of questions and push back back home in Kenya about how the country is going to be leading this multinational peacekeeping mission in Haiti take a listen to our conversation and on the matter of security Kenya is getting ready to send about a thousand police officers to Haiti why is Kenya leading this Mission because we are a responsible Global citizen we have the requisite experience we have participated in 47 countries Making Peace Keeping peace for the last 40 years and because we believe the responsibility in Haiti is a shared responsibility every country that believes in Freedom democracy self-determination would want peace everywhere in the world and that is why Kenya is stepping forward to provide the leadership in Haiti and we are working with many partners many other uh police contributing countries and many others who are contributing in different ways like Canada like the US like others who want to participate in this space because the women and children in Haiti deserve peace the same way the women and children in Kenya do a group of missionaries including Americans were killed in Haiti last night by gangs can the Kenyan forces stop that kind of violence yes we believe we have what it takes we have the necessary experience and we have built uh as I talk to you I have a a team from Kenya in Haiti for the last one week doing an assessment of the capabilities that are available the collaborations that are necessary they have made uh contact they have engaged with the transitional presidential Council they have talked to the ministry responsible for security they have spoke uh they have had a conversation with the Inspector General of the police and the whole police leadership and I think we have the best chance to deal with the gangs and to secure Haiti once and for all and what happens if the Kenyan police forces kill someone in Haiti would that be considered extra judicial killing we have a clear conops you know um how how the the internationally benchmarked standardized operations we have the notes of operation we have Clarity and we are going to deposit all instruments that will guide the operation of the multinational security support mission in Haiti which meet un standards so we are operating under a un mandate and we will measure up to all the requirements on human rights on handling of civilians and our police are professionally trained and they have participated in such missions before and they have done a fantastic job and I don't think this time is going to be an exception we expect them we expect them to do a good job and Matt I asked president Ruto why he believes this is going to be successful there are no no shortages of challenges including understanding the terrain of Haiti and how the gangs operate and the language barriers and on top of that no African country has led a security Mission outside of the continent ever so this is a very very big hurdle that he has to cross but president Ruto confident and adamant that they can do it President Biden standing by him as well Matt and that's a money metal challenge Selina thank you

Channel: ABC News

Views: 25,481

Keywords: News, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-110562829, kenya, haiti, gang violence, interview, kenyan president, biden, ABCNL, ABC News, Prime

Id: K2UWO12yeHM

Length: 3min 56sec (236 seconds)

Published: Sat May 25 2024