Since the violent incidents that unfolded between gangs in the Cite Soleil district, around 3,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
More than 471 people were killed, injured or disappeared in the violent incidents that unfolded between gangs in Cite Soleil, a district of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, from July 8 to 17, the United Nations announced yesterday Monday.
“Very serious incidents of sexual violence against women and girls and recruitment of boys by gangs were also reported,” the UN said in a statement.
About 3,000 residents of this community, the poorest of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, were forced to flee their homes, including “hundreds of unaccompanied children.”
Humanitarian organizations, which have begun to provide aid to the most vulnerable, speak of a still very fragile situation from a security point of view.
The UN complains in the press release that it published that “access to health services (is) limited or non-existent, many health centers have been closed and the access of medical personnel to the zone is limited, while there is a shortage of food and water”.
For more than two years, gangs operating with widespread impunity have expanded the territory they control beyond the slums of the Haitian capital and have multiplied kidnappings for ransom.
Ulrika Richardson, the UN coordinator, calls in the text for “all parties to end the deadly violence” and “to maintain an open humanitarian corridor to Cite Soleil to allow unhindered access to the humanitarian and medical assistance that citizens urgently need.” in the district.
With police facing shortages of staff and equipment, gangs have since early June launched attacks on key institutions in Port-au-Prince, such as the courthouse or the headquarters of the ports authority.
With its legality increasingly in question, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henri has so far remained silent on the flare-up of violence that has torn through Cite Soleil since the beginning of the month.
Haiti remains mired in the political crisis that emerged after the most recent elections, which were held in late 2016. The assassination of President Jovenel Moise by a group of mercenaries inside his home on July 7, 2021, has rapidly worsened the situation.
RES-EMP
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