A group of Haiti nationals residing in the United States on Thursday staged demonstrations outside Kenya’s embassy in the USA.The Haitians protested against President William Ruto’s decision to deploy a thousand troops for a peacekeeping mission in the war-torn country.
The Caribbeans could be spotted holding placards with written messages to Kenya’s head of state as they demanded that Ruto stop his planned deployment to Haiti.
While marching around the Kenyan embassy in the US, the rowdy demonstrators could be heard chanting President Ruto’s name as they demanded he reverse the decision (to deploy Kenyan troops to Haiti).
The demonstrators said that it was hypocritical that the US was funding a peacekeeping effort in the 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.
Speaking about the deployment, Ruto stated that Kenya was prepared to protect Haitians from gang violence and 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,”
By Newshub