The gangs say they want to topple Ariel Henry, who has been in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021 and who was supposed to leave office in early February.
Armed gangs stormed a police academy in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince under curfew on Tuesday where armed gangs freed thousands of detainees and tried to take over the airport. Gangs that control entire sections of the country, including the capital, have been attacking strategic locations for days while embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry is abroad.
The attack on a police academy located in the Port-au-Prince district, which is plagued by armed gangs and where more than 800 people are undergoing training, was repelled by police officers deployed as reinforcements, national union coordinator Lionel Lazar revealed. Haitian Police Officers (Sinapoha). The gangs say they want to topple Ariel Henry, who has been in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021 and who was supposed to leave office in early February.
According to an AFP reporter, the day before, the police and army had repelled an attack launched at Toussaint-Louverture International Airport. International airlines have canceled all flights to Port-au-Prince due to the unrest around the airport.
15,000 people were forced to flee their homes
Several armed men attacked a police station near the airport and set it on fire, according to the same source. The civil aviation office of the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, announced it had suspended flights. “with immediate effect” All air connections with its neighbor.
The latest violence follows attacks launched over the weekend against two prisons in Port-au-Prince, which resulted in the escape of thousands of inmates and the death of nearly ten. In response, the government declared a state of emergency and a three-day nighttime curfew, renewable until Wednesday.
This new “increase” The violence has forced nearly 15,000 people to flee their homes in Port-au-Prince, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York on Tuesday, as humanitarians began distributing food and other emergency supplies to the sites of three newly displaced persons. The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors on the subject on Wednesday, according to the council’s program. The United Nations representative in Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, will provide them with updates on the situation remotely. After being paralyzed, the capital nevertheless seemed to resume a semblance of activity on Tuesday, even if some streets were lined with rocks and tree trunks by residents to protect themselves, according to AFP reporters.
Lack of security for Prime Minister’s return
Transport is working again and businesses have reopened. There are long queues in front of shops, banks and gas stations. The US State Department announced that the prime minister was going home on Monday, but was still expected in his country on Tuesday. According to local media radio Télé Métronome, Ariel Henry was unable to return due to lack of security at the airport.
The head of government traveled to Nairobi last week to sign an agreement to send Kenyan police officers to Haiti as part of an international mission backed by the UN and the United States. Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is facing a deep political, humanitarian and security crisis exacerbated by the assassination of Jovenel Moise, with the political process at a complete standstill.
According to the UN, more than 8,400 people were victims of gang violence last year, killed, injured and kidnapped. “Increase of 122% compared to 2022”. “Every day that passes, if not every hour, it is clear that it is the Haitian people who are trying to survive in the midst of horrific and inhumane violence”Stéphane Dujarric commented, reiterating the UN Secretary General’s call to all political actors to advance the political process to allow elections to take place.
(TagsToTranslate)Haiti
