Haiti | Demand for international intervention against gangs

Gangs now control about 80% of Port-au-Prince, and kidnapping, rape, robbery and murder have become a daily threat. The United States said it will submit a resolution to the UN to authorize a Kenyan intervention.

Several families from a Port-au-Prince neighborhood have had to flee with the few belongings they could carry by hand, due to the violence of criminal gangs.

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Gangs now control about 80% of Port-au-Prince, and kidnapping, rape, robbery and murder have become a daily threat.

“The gangs have burned our houses, they have burned all our belongings. We cannot move forward and we have lost the policemen who helped us. The young people who helped us at night, who were even anemic, are all dead. They are splashing in their own blood,” says a woman, a resident of Port-au-Prince.

At least 3,120 people have fled the district, according to an estimate by Haiti’s Department of Civil Protection, and authorities say more are likely to follow.

“There are dead people up there, no one can go look for them. There are gunshot wounds. We can’t even take them to the hospital. Who can take them? If someone is wounded by the bullets, we would have to go find them and take them to the hospital. You risk that they hurt you”, explains a woman, a resident of Port-au-Prince.

An international police intervention

According to the inhabitants, the Police have no means to defend them. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and the Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, have been calling for international intervention for months.

Kenya offered 1,000 agents and the Bahamas and Jamaica have also made their offer. The United States said it would submit a resolution to the UN to authorize a Kenyan intervention to lead a multinational police force, but without specifying a specific date.

A former police officer, considered by many to be Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, has warned that he will fight any international armed forces deployed in the Caribbean country if they commit any abuses.

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