Neighbors of Haiti recently started fortifying their borders and pulling out embassy personnel as the country’s gang violence worsened and thousands of people fled new battles.
On March 3, 2024, armed men freed hundreds of prisoners from jail and a gang leader demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, prompting Haiti’s de facto government to declare a 72-hour state of emergency and implement overnight curfews.
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Sharing the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, the Dominican Republic announced on Monday that its defense minister was visiting the border to oversee the construction of a border fence. Meanwhile, the president ruled out setting up refugee camps for Haitians within the nation. Tens of thousands of Haitians were deported from the Dominican Republic last year.
In Henry’s absence, violence broke out. Henry had gone to Kenya to finalize an agreement for the African country to command an international force to assist in combating the gangs, which had raised questions about his whereabouts.
According to airport officials, there was a lot of shooting during the day near the international airport in Port Au Prince.
The US asked its people to get out of Haiti “as soon as possible.” According to an American State Department spokesman, Henry is most likely headed back to Haiti.
The government of Brazil urged the world community to carry out the United Nations resolution directing the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti. Authorities from Brazil stated in a statement that from 2004 to 2017, they oversaw a peacekeeping deployment from the United Nations to Haiti.
The charge d’affaires and two security attachés are the only embassy employees still in the neighboring Bahamas, which announced it had ordered all of its personnel back to New Providence. Meanwhile, Mexico advised its citizens to only travel as necessary and to restock on non-perishables, water, and petrol.
Gangs in the Port-au-Prince area have sent warnings to parents to keep their kids at home, despite the government of Haiti’s insistence that schools remain open.
According to the International Organization for Migration, in only three days last week, an estimated 15,000 individuals are said to have escaped shooting in the capital, many of them from places they had previously been forced to flee to, such as squares, hospitals, and schools.
Early this year, the UN reported that over 300,000 people had been forced to evacuate their homes as competing gangs engaged in well-armed conflict over territory, resulting in indiscriminate killings, frequent sexual assault, kidnappings, and looting.
According to the International Rescue Committee, the security situation has compelled relief organizations with whom it collaborates to halt operations.
In tandem with the U.N., the Washington-based Organization of American States advocated for a quicker global response. “It is irresponsible that the necessary measures and actions continue to be delayed,” it stated.
The idea to bring in an international force to assist Haitian police in restoring security was approved by the U.N. last October, thanks to voluntary contributions from member nations.
The deployment date has not yet been determined, though. The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, and Chad were the five countries that had formally committed soldiers as of the end of February, according to the U.N., and less than $11 million had been placed in its fund.
The countries that have made the biggest public personnel promises are Kenya, which late last week inked an agreement with Henry to lead the mission with some 1,000 police officers, and Benin, which, according to the U.N., pledged 1,500 people.
Meanwhile, the national police force in Haiti has reduced its workforce due to resource shortages and fatal conflicts with assault weapon-wielding gangs that are allegedly mostly smuggled from the United States.
The U.N.-backed army has been encouraged by aid organizations to give priority to protecting roads so that people can receive food and medicine.
