New York — On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Kenyan President William Ruto sat down with VOA’s Peter Clottey for an in-depth conversation Thursday. 

Ruto discussed his recent visit to Haiti, where he met with the top police commanders leading efforts to combat gangs and restore order in the Caribbean nation. He also addressed the proposal for Africa to secure two permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council, as well as the growing protests by Kenya’s Gen-Z demanding reforms in the East African country.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA’s Peter Clottey: Thank you very much, Mr. President, for having us this morning. What was your overarching message during your speech at the U.N. General Assembly?

Kenyan President William Ruto: Three messages: the ravaging war around the world, tensions and conflict — you know, from Ukraine, Darfur, Sudan, DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] — and the failure of the multilateral system, especially the U.N. General Assembly and specifically the U.N. Security Council, to be a force of good and a place where we resolve issues.

In fact, it has become a gridlock and part of the problem. There is urgency in reforming the U.N. Security Council so that it reflects the dynamics and responds to the urgency of the situation that we face at the moment. It is our position that the U.N. needs to be reformed yesterday — to make it democratic, representative and agile — so that it can respond to the times of challenges of our time.

Number two is the challenge we have about the debt situation, the economic situation globally, and the fact that many countries in the Global South, many countries are facing the possibility of debt default. And a need to reform the international financial system, deal with credit rating agencies, ensure that there is longer-term financing, there is concessional financing, there is financing that is at scale to make sure that countries can be able to push their development programs, pay for social services and manage the serious challenges of debt.

Thirdly, climate change and the huge potential and opportunity that we have, especially in the Global South, and more particularly in Africa, for the huge resources, energy resources that we have, mineral resources that are in plenty, and the human capital that exists, that we can use to turn the climate change that is ravaging the world into an opportunity for Africa to industrialize, to create jobs, and to decarbonize the whole world. So, these were my very three pointed messages. Of course, not forgetting the challenge we have in Haiti and what Kenya is doing about it.

VOA: You were there recently and met with Kenyan police officers. What were your observations, and what did the Kenyan police officers tell you about the challenges they face in Haiti?

Ruto: I met with Haiti’s political leadership, and we had a candid conversation. I was supposed to be there for an hour but stayed for four. I also met the commanders of the Kenyan contingent, the Multinational Security Support Mission [MSS] and the Haitian police leadership. My assessment was more positive than I initially thought. The reports I received indicated that the pessimists and critics who saw no hope in Haiti are changing their tune. The airport, which used to be under gunfire, is now safe, with more flights coming in and out. The palace is secure, the National Hospital is in good hands, and the National Police Academy, which had been overrun by gangs, is now training officers. I see a very positive trajectory.

The Kenyan commanders on the ground and the Haitian police confirmed this to me, though they still face logistical challenges and need more resources and personnel.

VOA: Will Kenya provide that additional support?

Ruto: I immediately made the decision that Kenya is going to have another 600 security officers sent to Haiti to add on to the 400 already there — 300 next month, and 300 in November. And I am going to mobilize the rest of the global community to make sure that by January, we have 2,500 police officers so that we can execute the mandate that was given to us by the U.N. resolution setting up the MSS in Haiti.

VOA: There are suggestions that perhaps the U.N. should lead this effort. Where does Kenya stand on that?

Ruto: Whichever way we go, so long as we deploy the requisite personnel on the ground, mobilize resources necessary, the logistics that are needed for us to do the job in Haiti, whatever name we call it, whatever color we give it, my position is that we must focus on making sure that within a year.

VOA: What is your plan for the youth of Kenya in terms of listening to them instead of coming up with specific plans to meet their calls and demands? And how do you react when they said, “Mr. President must go. He has not kept his promises. He has to go”?

Ruto: Kenya is a robustly democratic country. I mean, because we are a democracy, I see people even in New York here demonstrating and making all manner of statements, and that is the beauty, that is the diversity of democracy.

I have a very clear, elaborate plan on job creation, our housing plan. Our digital footprint plan, our plan on export of labor. We just signed today here in New York a bilateral labor agreement with Austria, where Kenyan young people, the best resource we have, will find jobs in Austria. I came last week from, the other week, from Germany, doing the same thing, creating opportunities for the young people of Kenya to work in Kenya and to work abroad.

This is my plan. It is elaborate, understood, and I’m rolling out, and I’m confident that before leaving Nairobi, I launched Climate Works. That is going to hire another 200,000 young people across Kenya on climate action and make sure that we deal with the environmental issues and climate change that is threatening humanity and having significant adverse effects on the people of Kenya swinging from drought to floods, and that program is now on its way beginning 1st of October.

This Q&A originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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MBABANE, ESWATINI — Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities, an LGBTQ advocacy group, was denied registration by authorities in 2019, and even after seeking relief from the Supreme Court, which had ruled the group must be registered, its efforts have been unsuccessful.

Human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi said the harsh legal environment for LGBTQ individuals in the southern African kingdom causes significant problems.

“There is denial that they exist, so they do not have any form of protection as a group,” Nhlabatsi said. “They only rely on protection from the law or enjoyment of any rights from the law as human beings under Chapter 3 of our Bill of Rights of our Constitution. So I can say it’s quite challenging, because there’s no instrument that seeks to protect them. There’s no instrument that seeks to recognize them as a group of people that exist. I don’t think there’s any progress that has been made.”

Besides the lack of legal recognition, LGBTQ individuals in Eswatini often face discrimination in gaining access to services, high rates of intimate partner violence, and exclusion from public discussions.

Sisanda Mavimbela, executive director of Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities, said the idea of LGBTQ rights is considered contradictory to traditional African values and religious beliefs, perpetuating a climate of exclusion and marginalization.

“The community cannot equally enjoy rights like all Swazis do, as per their birthright,” Mavimbela said. ESGM has been denied “a right to associate, which is a right to all Swazis as per the Constitution.”

Eswatini is also known by its former official name, Swaziland.

In the LGBTQ community, “justice comes hard and sometimes is not reached at all,” for what are usually quoted as “non-African, unreligious or cultural” reasons, Mavimbela said. 

Colonial-era laws

In refusing to register Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities, the government cited the country’s colonial-era laws, which still have a profound influence on the country’s legal framework.

Registration of the group would allow it to operate as a nonprofit organization with the ability to, among other things, open a bank account and receive international funding.

If the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry continues to refuse to register ESGM despite the Supreme Court ruling, the court could issue a mandamus order requiring the government to carry out the action.

However, no such order has been issued, and it remains to be seen if the court will do so.

The ESGM case reached the Supreme Court after the group appealed a ruling by the High Court, a lower-level body. The appellants argued that the High Court had erred in law, and in fact, by stating that the applicants sought to create rights that don’t exist.

On June 16, 2023, a five-panel bench of the Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s decision to dismiss ESGM’s application to register as a nonprofit organization.  

But on September 27, 2023, the Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry ordered the Registrar of Companies not to register ESGM, citing the organization’s name and objectives and asserting that it offends the customs and principles of Eswatini.

Despite the opposition to LGBTQ rights in Eswatini, Bishop Zwanini Shabalala, the former secretary-general of the Council of Swaziland Churches, has called for understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQ community without discrimination.

“This is an area that still needs more and more dialogue in churches and in society. … Our position as the church is that we should welcome everyone who comes to church and also advocate for access to services that are rendered by the country from government to all other institutions,” Shabalala said. LGBTQ citizens “should also be treated like anyone else, without looking at their sexual orientation.”

With little to no local support, the LGBTQ community finds solace and support in the Eswatini offices of the European Union and the U.N. Development Program.

The EU and the U.S. Embassy to Eswatini backed LGBTQ residents throughout the court battle, and the development program continues to run dialogue sessions and workshops.

The situation remains dire, however, as the community faces a lack of recognition, acceptance and equal rights.
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United Nations — Sudan’s de facto ruler said Thursday that he wants to end the war in his country, but he said he will not sit with his rival general unless he withdraws his fighters.

“We are keen on stopping the war and restoring peace and security, without any pre-conditions,” Army Chief Abdel-Fattah al Burhan told reporters in New York, where he was attending U.N. General Assembly meetings.

However, he stated several conditions for talks to start.

“We will never sit with Hemedti unless his forces pull out, and unless they implement what we agreed to,” he said referring to his rival, the head of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti.”

Once allies in Sudan’s transitional government following a 2021 coup, the two generals have turned into bitter rivals for power. On April 15, 2023, fighting erupted between their forces in the capital, Khartoum. It has since spread across Sudan, resulting in widespread atrocities and killing.

Burhan was asked about new fighting that erupted between his forces and the RSF in Khartoum on Thursday, but did not offer any new details.

Earlier Thursday, Burhan addressed the U.N. General Assembly annual debate. He used most of his speech to talk about the war in his country. Not to be outdone, his rival, Hemedti, issued a “General Assembly speech” of his own, on the social media platform X.

Ten million people have been displaced and half of Sudan’s population, 26 million people, are struggling with crisis levels of food insecurity.  Famine was confirmed in August in Sudan’s Darfur region, which has seen heavy fighting. At least 14 other areas of Sudan are considered at risk of famine in the coming months.

“The food gap is there, but it hasn’t reached the level of famine yet,” Burhan told reporters.

Regarding efforts by the United States and Saudi Arabia to bring the parties to the negotiating table in Switzerland in August, the army chief said it didn’t happen because “external parties interfered” with the process.

The Sudanese military accuses the United Arab Emirates of arming and equipping the RSF. The UAE was invited to a meeting in Switzerland in August and Burhan did not attend.

He said he was also not happy with how the invitation was sent to him – in his personal capacity, not as head of state. He added that any peace process should be purely Sudanese-led.

Asked about a July phone call he had with the leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Burhan said he told the Emirati that the RSF has received either direct or indirect assistance from the UAE in the forms of weapons and training.

He said MBZ, as the UAE leader is known, “promised to reconsider the situation.”

A report by a U.N. panel of experts earlier this year said there was substance to media reports that cargo planes originating in the UAE capital had landed in eastern Chad with arms, ammunition and medical equipment destined for the RSF.

Publicly, the UAE denies that it arms the RSF and says it has only sent humanitarian aid to Sudan.
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