Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is facing a deep political, humanitarian and worsening security crisis.
While the current Prime Minister Ariel Henry is abroad, gangs which control entire sections of the island and the capital Port-au-Prince announced last week that they were ganging up against the government.
Since then, they have carried out attacks against infrastructure and strategic sites.
The capital has been under a state of emergency and curfew since Sunday after these armed gangs released thousands of detainees.
Also readCrisis in Haiti: who is “Barbecue”, this powerful gang leader who sows terror in Port-au-Prince?
A situation which is becoming more and more worrying.
A 46-year-old former police officer who became an influential Haitian gang leader calling himself “Barbecue” threatened the country on Tuesday with a bloody “civil war” if disputed Prime Minister Ariel Henry remained in power.
“If he does not resign, if the international community continues to support him, we are heading straight towards a civil war which will lead to genocide,” threatened Jimmy Chérizier.
“We must come together.
Either Haiti becomes a paradise for all of us, or a hell for all of us,” he added, equipped with a bulletproof vest, carrying a weapon and surrounded by hooded men probably belonging to an alliance of armed bands nicknamed “the G9 family”.
The gangs already estimate they control 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince.
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Haiti: thousands of inmates escape after gang assault on prison
A threat taken very seriously by the UN which has placed “Barbecue” under sanctions.
The UN Security Council will meet this Wednesday behind closed doors on the subject, according to the Council program.
Maria Isabel Salvador, United Nations representative in Haiti, will provide them with an update on the situation remotely.
This new “escalation” of violence would have forced some 15,000 people to flee their homes in Port-au-Prince, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric explained Tuesday in New York, specifying that humanitarians had started to distribute food and other basic necessities at three new IDP sites.
Gangs attacked the police academy in the Haitian capital on Tuesday, after trying to seize the Toussaint-Louverture international airport the day before.
Already last year, more than 8,400 people were victims of gang violence last year, having been killed, injured or kidnapped, an "increase of 122% compared to 2022", according to the UN .
Haiti-Crisis: The gangs want to seize the Port-au-Prince international airport at all costs https://t.co/lffmAiAqoY
— AlterPresse (@AlterPresse) March 6, 2024
Acknowledging the abuses committed by gang members, the “Barbecue” leader called on society to move forward: “Yes, we are aware that the armed men have committed acts harmful to society, but I think that the society must forgive them and unite to rethink a new Haiti,” he declared.
A Prime Minister stranded abroad
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is reportedly stranded abroad.
He traveled to Nairobi last week to sign an agreement to send Kenyan police officers to Haiti as part of an international mission supported by the UN and the United States.
For its part, the American State Department announced on Monday that Ariel Henry was on his way back to Port-au-Prince.
But according to the Haitian media Radio Télé Métronome, he was unable to land in the capital due to security problems at the airport.
For the Dominican media CDN, the Prime Minister's private plane, departing from the American state of New Jersey, landed in Puerto Rico after being refused a landing in the Dominican Republic, a neighboring country of Haiti.
Relations are tense between the two countries.
Armed violence in Haiti:
Towards the deployment of Kenyan troops in Port-au-Prince within 72 hours!
pic.twitter.com/GVhSoK8TDc
— F-wanguy (@fwanguy) March 6, 2024
Kenyan President William Ruto told Americans and local authorities that he could deploy troops to help Haitian police within 72 hours, according to a Miami media report.