UNITED NATIONS, United States: Haitian gangs are expanding into Port-au-Prince, UN officials reported Thursday, worsening the situation in the capital as talks continue to form a transitional government in the troubled Caribbean nation.
Daily life has been defined by roadblocks and gunfire, and gangs have taken over neighborhoods, U.N. humanitarian aid coordinator for Haiti Ulrica Richardson told a news conference from Haiti via video link.
The country has been gripped by violence since late February, when gangs launched a coordinated offensive to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, stormed prisons and free thousands of prisoners.
Mr. Henry, who closed Puerto Rico’s main airport after the violence, has since agreed to resign and allow a transitional government to form. But the talks are progressing slowly despite pressure from neighbouring Caribbean countries and the United States.
Richardson told reporters that police were struggling as armed groups spread into new areas of the capital in recent days.
Henry, stranded in Puerto Rico after the violence shut down the main airport, has since agreed to step down and allow the formation of an interim government. But negotiations have been slow despite pressure from neighboring Caribbean countries and the United States.
Meanwhile police are struggling as armed groups in recent days advanced into new areas of the capital, Richardson told reporters.
“We see people coming in with gunshot wounds from many areas around Port-au-Prince.”
Citing “serious concerns about the illicit flow of arms and ammunition into Haiti, which remains a major cause of instability and violence,” the United Nations Security Council has ordered countries to enforce the current arms embargo against Haiti.
President Jovenel Moise, who appointed Henry, was assassinated in 2021 and was not replaced. Henry has led the country since then, and no elections have been held since 2016.
The Transitional Council, which has already been formed, will appoint an interim prime minister to oversee the referendum.
Meanwhile, the WHO director-general said that the closure of the Port-au-Prince airport has made it impossible to import essential goods and medicine.
