The United States government has “strongly” condemned the ongoing gang violence in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, which it says is aimed at “destabilizing” the government in the French-speaking CARICOM country.
Armed gangs control most of the capital and surrounding areas. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said earlier this month that gang violence had forced more than 110,000 people to flee their homes in the last seven months, particularly in Gressier, which lies west of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
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The Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the US Department of State, Brian A. Nichols, said that the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission and the Haitian police “are conducting joint operations and have managed to protect residents of several areas, repel gangs, capture weapons and eliminate multiple gang members.
”We stand with the Haitian people, the Haitian National Police, and the MSS mission, including the brave efforts of the Kenyan, Jamaican, Belizean, and Bahamian forces, in their efforts to restore security,” he said, adding that “individuals who aim to destabilize Haiti for personal gain should be more concerned for Haiti and its people”
Nichols said that those responsible will be held to account by Haitian and international authorities.
“As raised with the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) and prime minister, now is the time for Haitian national unity in the international fight against the gangs. Now is not the time for political infighting.
“We strongly support the efforts of Prime Minister (Garry) Conille and his cabinet in advancing the national priorities established by the CPT,” Nichols said.
Last Friday, the United Nations Security Council renewed for one year, the sanctions regime on Haiti, including a targeted assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo measures, aimed at curbing the illicit flow of weapons to criminal gangs which have sown chaos across the French-speaking Caribbean nation.
The UN said the resolution “emphasizes the continuation of sanctions measures originally imposed in earlier resolutions to prevent the supply of weapons and military equipment to gangs operating in Haiti”.
The UN noted that Haiti is “mired in a complex humanitarian crisis, driven primarily by rampant violence by armed criminal gangs, against a backdrop of severe disasters and economic crisis.”
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, including around 350,000 children and there are also “deeply worrying reports” of sexual violence, kidnapping, and executions. CMC
