According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in two weeks, more than 33,000 people have fled the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, to seek shelter from the escalation attacks. They mainly headed towards the departments of the Great South, which are already hosting 116,000 displaced people who have fled in recent months.
Friday March 22, an Agence France-Presse correspondent present on site saw several remains in the city center of Port-au-Prince and in Delmas, in its suburbs, at a time when the country is still awaiting the announcement of the composition of its future transitional authorities.
The day was marked by several attacks by armed men and by a police operation which led to the death of a gang leader, Ernst Julmé alias “Ti Grèg”. The latter escaped from prison at the beginning of March. Some roads remained barricaded and very few vehicles were on the road. Most public administration offices kept their doors closed, as did schools and universities.
The United Nations (UN) is alarmed by the humanitarian crisis: around five million people, almost half the population, are facing high levels “acute food insecurity”. “One in two people are now hungry. The rise in hunger is fueling the security crisis ravaging the country. We need urgent action now”, alerted Jean-Martin Bauer, director of the World Food Program in Haiti. These “provinces do not have sufficient infrastructure and host communities do not have sufficient resources that can enable them to cope with these massive displacement flows coming from the capital”affirmed the IOM.
A country without president, prime minister or parliament
Haiti, which was already experiencing a deep political and security crisis, has been gripped by renewed violence since the beginning of March, when several gangs joined forces to attack strategic locations in Port-au-Prince, saying they wanted to overthrow the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry.
Highly contested, the latter was unable to return to the country after a trip to Kenya. According to consistent sources, he could now be in California, after leaving Puerto Rico. Mr. Henry agreed to resign on March 11, and negotiations have since been underway with a view to appointing transitional authorities.
But in the meantime, armed gangs are expanding their attacks in the capital, of which they already controlled some 80%. “In recent days, gangs have advanced into new areas of the capital”said Ulrika Richardson, UN humanitarian coordinator for the country, on Thursday.
The future Presidential Transitional Council, the establishment of which was decided during an emergency meeting in Jamaica of several countries and organizations with Haitian representatives, is long overdue. This body will be responsible, among other things, for appointing an interim prime minister. Haiti currently remains without a president or Parliament: the last head of state, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in 2021. And the country has not had an election since 2016.
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Kenya, which was to send a thousand police officers to Haiti as part of a mission supported by the UN, finally announced that it was suspending this deployment in view of the situation. “Cutting the violence hitting Haiti will constitute a decisive test for the unity and sustainability of the new government”for its part wrote the think tank International Crisis Group.
“The new authorities should resume talks with foreign partners to accelerate the deployment of the multinational security mission” and, in the meantime, try to provide the necessary equipment for the police to try to regain control of the capital and its port and main highways, he added.