UN Calls on Haitian Armed Gangs To Halt Violence

The United Nations Office in Haiti called on armed gangs to stop aggressions against citizens and allow access to humanitarian aid to populations in need.

RELATED:

Haiti Has Not Started COVID-19 Vaccination Yet

On Monday a tense situation reigned for several hours on Toussaint Louverture Boulevard, which leads to the Port-au-Prince Airport, after an armed gang attacked a car dealership.

In recent months, Haiti has faced a dramatic increase in gang warfare, murders, robberies, rapes, and kidnappings. At least three police substations in Port-au-Prince have been raided by the gang coalition known as "G-9 an Fanmi e Alye."

The slum Cite-Soleil has been engulfed for several months in a bloody war between two armed groups. During the first week of June, the southern entrance to Port-au-Prince was completely inaccessible due to conflicts between Ti Bwa and Grand Ravine, two gangs that have been fighting for control of the Carrefour commune for over a decade.

The meme reads, "Dear Haiti: a video of families taking refuge in a fish market due to gang fighting in Martissant."

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(UNOCHOA) claims that this gang war has forced at least 1,120 people to seek refuge in a gymnasium while hundreds of other citizens have been forced to live on the streets or in homes of relatives.

The NGO Doctors of the World denounced that the violence in Port-au-Prince hinders the transit of ambulances and health workers.

In this context, the "G-9 an Fanmi e Alye" gang threatened the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights Director Piere Esperance with death.