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08-03-2024
PORT-AU-PRINCE: The gang leader behind the violence blighting the Haitian capital has warned there will be a “civil war” if Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, does not step down.
Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier made the threat as members of his gang tried to seize the capital’s airport to stop Henry from returning from abroad.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the situation was “beyond untenable”.
Thousands of Haitians have had to flee.
Aid groups say about 15,000 people, among them many young children, have been displaced from their homes in recent weeks.
Turk said that since the beginning of the year, “a staggering 1,193 people have been killed, and 692 others injured by gang violence”.
He urged the international community to “act swiftly and decisively to prevent Haiti’s further descent into chaos”.
The United States has called on Henry to “expedite” a transition.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller urged a transition to prepare for “a multinational security support mission” and to “pave the way for free and fair elections”.
He said that the US wanted Henry to “make concessions in the interest of the Haitian people” but added that Washington was not “pushing for him to resign”.
Henry’s whereabouts had been unknown for days until late on Tuesday, when he boarded a charter flight in New Jersey.
Reports said Henry had planned to land in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, but with the airport closed due to the gangs’ attempts to seize it, and neighboring Dominican Republic turning the plane away, the pilot eventually landed in the US territory of Puerto Rico.
Haitian media report that Henry is now seeking alternative routes back into the country while diplomatic pressure appears to be mounting on him to agree to a transitional government.
Meanwhile, tension remains high in Haiti, with Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier warning on Tuesday that “if Ariel Henry does not resign … we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide”.
The G9 alliance which he leads has unleashed a wave of violence, including attacks on police stations and the storming of the country’s two main prisons. Thousands of inmates escaped in a mass jailbreak on Saturday.
Haiti has been blighted by gang violence for years but while Prime Minister Henry was on a visit to Kenya last week, Barbecue escalated the situation.
Henry was aiming to agree a deal for Kenya to lead a multinational police operation to quell the violence in Haiti. (Int’l News Desk)
