Port-au-Prince.- Kenyan President William Ruto announced the arrival of an additional 600 Kenyan troops to join the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMSS) in Haiti, aiming to help local police combat violent armed gangs.

This will bring the Kenyan contingent helping Haitian police fight gangs up to 1,000.

The trip by President William Ruto of Kenya came against a bleak backdrop in Haiti, where gangs operate with impunity and the Kenyan peacekeepers remain largely out of sight.

Kenya's President William Ruto arrived in Haiti on Saturday, claiming that because of a Kenyan police force battling gangs “the country's security has significantly improved.” Ruto's claim was contradicted by a United Nations security expert,

After arriving onboard a Kenya Airways flight at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Ruto descended the stairway and was greeted by members of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council and the force commander of the Multinational Security Support mission, Godfrey Otunge.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Kenyan President William Ruto, on a visit to Haiti, said on Saturday that he was open to Kenya's anti-gang mission in the country being converted to a full U.N. peacekeeping operation.

Meanwhile, U.N. human rights expert William O'Neill, who visited Haiti this week, warned Friday that gang violence is spreading across Haiti and that Haiti's National Police still lack the "logistical and technical capacity" to fight gangs, which are capturing new territory.

The security mission in Haiti led by troops from Kenya is set to receive more men from the East African nation in the coming weeks. This is in line with the promise the Kenyan president made in 2023 to aid in curtailing the insecurity issues in the Caribbean country.