At least 18 civilians have been killed since Sunday in Port-au-Prince, where two gangs are fighting for control of popular neighborhoods north of the capital, Haitian civil protection announced on Wednesday.
Among these civilians “killed between April 24 and 26”, were “a family of eight people” as well as “three young women and three children”, indicates a report drawn up by the public body.
“Several hundred people” left this area of clashes, including fifty who took refuge in a public square “a few hundred meters from the front line”, according to this document.
Murders and heinous kidnappings
Sleeping in makeshift shelters, they “find themselves exposed to significant risks in terms of security and protection, in particular the risk of gender-based violence for women, girls and children”, warns civil protection.
Long confined to the very disadvantaged areas of the Port-au-Prince seaside, the gangs have greatly increased their hold across the city and the country since the fall of 2020, multiplying murders and villainous kidnappings.
The north of the capital paralyzed
The Haitian authorities have not yet commented on the violence, which paralyzes all activity in the north of Port-au-Prince, and the spokesman for the national police, Gary Desrosiers, was unable to provide information. to the press on Wednesday noon.
The area where this violence takes place is highly strategic because it constitutes the only road access to the northern half of the country as well as between the Haitian capital and the Dominican Republic.