Nearly 90 dead in Haiti gang violence, as country slides into chaos

Nearly 90 dead in Haiti gang violence, as country slides into chaos

A recent spike in gang violence has left nearly 90 people dead and dozens injured, according to human rights advocates
A recent spike in gang violence has left nearly 90 people dead and dozens injured, according to human rights advocates. Photo: Richard Pierrin / AFP
Source: AFP

New feature: Check out news exactly for YOU ➡️ find “Recommended for you” block and enjoy!

A week of gang violence in Haiti's capital has left at least 89 people dead, a rights group said Wednesday, as soaring prices, fuel shortages and gang warfare accelerate a brutal downward spiral in the security situation in Port-au-Prince.

The unrest erupted on July 7 between two rival factions in Cite Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.

As gunfire crackled in the slums for nearly a week, police, short-staffed and ill-equipped, did not intervene, while international humanitarian organizations struggled to deliver crucial food supplies and provide medical care to the victims.

Thousands of families living in the slums that have sprung up here over the past four decades had no choice but to hide inside their homes, unable to fetch food or water -- and, with many houses made of sheet metal, dozens of residents fell victim to stray bullets.

Read also

Sri Lankan troops stand by as protestors occupy PM's office

"At least 89 people were killed and 16 others are missing" in the past week's violence, the National Human Rights Defense Network said in a statement, adding that another 74 people sustained gunshot or knife wounds.

Mumuza Muhindo, head of the local mission of Doctors Without Borders, on Wednesday urged all combatants to allow medics to safely access Brooklyn, an area of Cite Soleil most affected by the violence.

PAY ATTENTION: Enjoy reading our stories? Join YEN.com.gh's Telegram channel for more!

Despite the danger, Muhindo said his group has operated on an average of 15 patients a day since last Friday.

Haitians protesting high prices and shortages burn tires on a street of Port-au-Prince on July 13, 2022
Haitians protesting high prices and shortages burn tires on a street of Port-au-Prince on July 13, 2022. Photo: Richard Pierrin / AFP
Source: AFP

He said his colleagues have seen burned and rotting corpses along a road leading to the Brooklyn neighborhood, possibly either gang members killed in the clashes or people trying to flee.

"It's a real battlefield," Muhindo said. "It's impossible to estimate how many people have been killed."

Read also

China locks down city of 300,000 over single Covid case

Fuel crisis

Cite Soleil is home to an oil terminal that supplies the capital and all of northern Haiti, so the clashes have had a devastating effect on the region's economy and people's daily lives.

Gas stations in Port-au-Prince don't have any gas to sell, causing prices on the black market to skyrocket.

Outraged, motorcycle cab drivers built barricades on some of the city's main roads on Wednesday, and residents were only able to make short trips by motorcycle within their neighborhoods, according to AFP journalists on the scene.

That further complicates their already dangerous situation: for the past several years, Haiti has seen a wave of mass kidnappings, as gangs snatch people of all walks of life, including foreigners, off the streets.

Emboldened by police inaction, gangs have become increasingly brazen in recent weeks. At least 155 kidnappings took place in the month of June, compared to 118 in May, according to a report released by the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights released Wednesday.

Read also

S.Africans scoff at 'empty' government promises after massacres

'A significant increase in hunger'

The crushing poverty and widespread violence is causing many Haitians to flee to the Dominican Republic, with which Haiti shares a border, or to the United States.

With no money and no visas, many of them risk their lives by boarding makeshift boats in the hopes of reaching Florida.

Many end up in Cuba or the Bahamas, or are stopped at sea by American authorities and returned home.

More than 1,200 undocumented migrants were sent back to Haiti in the month of June alone, according to government figures.

When they return, they have to face the poverty they tried to escape and annual inflation of 20 percent, with economists warning that that it could spike further to 30 percent because of the global reverberations of Russia's war in Ukraine.

"We are seeing a significant increase in hunger in the capital and in the south of the country, with Port-au-Prince hit the hardest," Jean-Martin Bauer, director of the World Food Program, said on Tuesday.

Read also

'Faceless killer': Syria landmines keep sowing death

Violence in Port-au-Prince is so bad that the World Food Programme already seeks to avoid parts of the capital and instead deliver aid by air or sea
Violence in Port-au-Prince is so bad that the World Food Programme already seeks to avoid parts of the capital and instead deliver aid by air or sea. Photo: Richard Pierrin / AFP
Source: AFP

Nearly half Haiti's 11 million residents already face food shortages, including 1.3 million who are facing a humanitarian emergency, which precedes famine, according to UN calculations.

But the violence interferes with efforts to help them also: already the WFP, trying to bypass areas of Port-au-Prince, seeks to deliver aid to the south and north of the country by air and sea.

New feature: Check out news exactly for YOU ➡️ find "Recommended for you" block and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.