Maria Isabel Salvador, the head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), has raised alarms about the escalating activities of criminal gangs in the country, particularly in areas they have yet to seize control of.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council, she noted a significant increase in violence over the past week in and around the capital, its suburbs, and agricultural regions. Residents have been facing extended sieges and are urgently seeking additional security support. Salvador emphasized that the overall situation in Haiti has “unfortunately deteriorated.”
She told the Council that the violence is “spreading terror and fear, overwhelming the national security apparatus” and that the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission remains “seriously understaffed, which could affect its deployment and prevent it from carrying out its duties”.
Earlier, Haiti’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Antonio Rodrigue, said that the past three weeks have seen a targeted and sustained joint security operation against gangs by security officers with the MSS and Haitian National Police, particularly in the centre of Port-au-Prince, but tangible results have been “slow”.
Kenya, which has provided most of the officers for the MSS so far, announced that 600 more will be deployed to Haiti by mid-November.
Funding has also lagged, and an alliance of well-equipped armed gangs known as Viv Ansanm has expanded across the capital and surrounding regions.
The UN Security Council was told that the recent massacre in Pont-Sondé exemplifies the ongoing violence and Salvador also warned of rising tensions between the country’s two executive branches, led respectively by Prime Minister Garry Conille and Leslie Voltaire, of the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), which are further undermining public confidence in the government.
More than 4,200 people have fled their homes since Thursday in new attacks around the capital, according to UN estimates, with most seeking refuge in makeshift camps set up in schools, churches and health centres.
The national police have said they are being deployed to some areas where fighting has intensified this week while Prime Minister Conille said on Monday he had immediately recalled hundreds of police and soldiers from VIP protection letters so they could be sent to combat zones.
Meanwhile, the TPC) is condemning threats made by criminals against journalists in Haiti.
“Freedom of the press is sacred and non-negotiable. The CPT expresses its unwavering support for all journalists in Haiti who courageously pursue their mission at the risk of their lives,” it said in a statement after two gang leaders, Jimmy Chérizier aka “Barbecue” and Vitelhomme Innocent issued threats to journalists.
The Ministry of Justice on Tuesday also warned of unspecified threats to Prime Minister Conille and other members of the TPC.
While it did not provide details of the threat, the ministry said it had “consistent and persistent” information that the top officials might be targeted by unnamed actors intent on sowing “trouble and panic in the country”.
The ministry is urging police and judicial authorities to take “appropriate measures” to guarantee the officials’ safety.
