A state of emergency in Haiti and the establishment of a curfew in Port-au-Prince

Published on: 04/03/2024 – 12:06

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Violence continues in Haiti. A state of emergency and curfew was declared across the western region for a renewable period of 72 hours after the weekend violence. A curfew is established in the same region between 6 pm and 5 am local on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as well as between 8 pm and 5 am local on Sundays, a government press release indicates.

It was the Minister of Economy and Finance, Patrick Michel Boisvert, who signed the government press release in the absence of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was traveling to Kenya. This suggests that these announcements come in the wake of the deterioration of security in the country, particularly in Port-au-Prince, “ Characterized by increasingly violent criminal acts perpetrated by armed gangs “, also considering” Escape from dangerous prisoners “, placing actions” endangers national security » According to Govt.

This weekend, in fact, during an operation blamed on armed gangs, around ten people died and thousands of prisoners escaped from the capital’s main jail.

Also readHaiti: After being attacked by armed gangs, prisoners escape from the country’s headmistress

This explosive situation worries many states. Some embassies are closed on March 4 while Canada and the United States ask their citizens to leave as quickly as possible. But several airlines like American Airlines and JetBlue Airways have suspended flights.

Ariel Henry, the prime minister, has still not returned from Kenya where he signed an agreement with authorities in Nairobi on Friday March 1 to send Kenyan police officers to the country.

Also readKenya and Haiti signed an agreement to send Kenyan police officers to Haitian soil

In this environment of violence, healthcare services are doing their best to continue functioning. This is the case of the Taber Hospital in Port-au-Prince, run by the Médecins Sans Frontières organization. The establishment has been welcoming more and more injured people in recent days: “ All incoming patients are very traumatized. We also get patients in our hospitals who are not coming from our technical platform because they have nowhere to go. And last night, we had pregnant women who showed up at the hospital and needed to give birth. They have no place to go, so they show up at our house », notes Mumuza Muhindo, Head of Mission for MSF in Haiti, responsible for Tabarre Hospital.

” Another concern is medication side effects. Cargo ships are blocked at the port. We cannot access it. We hope that, quickly, there will be a recession that will allow us to access these drugs, because otherwise we are afraid of shortages, which will disrupt our ability to respond to free care for the population. The number of beneficiaries is increasing day by day

», referring to Mumuza Muhindo.

Also readInternational mission in Haiti: “Gangs waiting to see how it will look”