More than 471 people were killed, injured or missing in violence that took place between gangs in Cité-Soleil, on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, from July 8 to 17, alerted the UN on Monday 25 July.
“Serious incidents of sexual violence against women and girls, as well as boys recruited by gangs, have also been reported”, deplore the United Nations in a press release. About 3,000 inhabitants of this commune, the poorest in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, had to flee their homes, including “hundreds of unaccompanied children”.
Humanitarian agencies, which have started to provide assistance to the most vulnerable people, report that the security situation is still very fragile. The UN deplores in its press release the fact that “access to health care [soit] limited or non-existent, with many health centers closed and medical personnel access to the area limited, while food and water are lacking”.
For more than two years, the gangs, which enjoy widespread impunity, have extended their territorial hold beyond the slums of the Haitian capital and are increasing the number of villainous kidnappings.
Several institutions attacked in Port-au-Prince
Ulrika Richardson, United Nations coordinator in Haiti, called in the text “all parties to end the deadly violence and to remain committed to maintaining an open humanitarian corridor to Cité-Soleil, in order to allow unhindered access to emergency humanitarian and medical assistance to civilians in need”.
Faced with an understaffed and under-equipped national police force, criminal gangs have, since the beginning of June, attacked key institutions in Port-au-Prince, such as the courthouse and the port administration. . His legitimacy disputed, Prime Minister Ariel Henry has not yet spoken on this outbreak of violence which notably ravaged Cité-Soleil in early July.
Haiti is mired in a political crisis resulting from the last elections, which were held at the end of 2016. The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by an armed commando at his home, on July 7, 2021, has profoundly aggravated the situation.