More than 10,000 Haitians flee gang attacks
25/10/2024 6:10
More than 10,000
people in Haiti have been internally displaced in the last week
as armed gangs operating in and around the capital
Port-au-Prince ramp up attacks on areas they do not yet control,
according U.N. migration agency estimates on Thursday.
The agency had said at the start of September that more than
700,000 people were internally displaced across the Caribbean
nation, nearly double the figure six months earlier.
Gangs have in the last week been ramping up attacks on a
number of towns outside the capital, where much of the city and
its suburbs is under the control of various violent armed groups
united under a common alliance known as Viv Ansanm.
The conflict is fueling famine-level hunger in parts of
the population as gangs take over farmlands and block off
transport routes, while people forced to flee their homes -
often to host families or makeshift camps - can no longer depend
on steady income to afford food.
While the U.N. authorized an international force to help
Haiti's police take back control from the gangs, the mission has
been poorly resourced and has produced scant results.
Haiti's leadership has requested the force be converted
to a formal peacekeeping mission in order to shore up resources,
an initiative that was blocked last month by China and Russia.
Gangs who previously targeted national police, civilian
self-defense groups and state infrastructure have also began
targeting foreign vehicles.
The U.S. embassy in Haiti told Reuters that on Monday
two of its armored vehicles had been targeted by gang gunfire.
One was hit by multiple rounds though no one was hurt or
injured.
A U.N. helicopter with 18 people on board was also shot
at and hit with multiple rounds on Thursday, although no one was
injured, the Miami Herald reported. The U.N.'s Haiti office did
not immediately respond to a request for more information.
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