Blinken phones President Ruto over Haiti crisis

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto about the Haiti crisis and the two men underscored their commitment to a multinational security mission to restore order, the State Department said on Saturday.

Haiti entered a state of emergency last Sunday after fighting escalated while Prime Minister Ariel Henry was in Nairobi seeking a deal for the long-delayed U.N.-backed mission.

Kenya announced last year it would lead the force but months of domestic legal wrangling have effectively placed the mission on hold.

In a statement, the State Department said Blinken and Ruto "underscored unwavering commitment to the deployment of a Multinational Security Support mission".

It gave no other details of the talks and did not say when the conversation took place.