FILE – Prime Minister of Haiti Ariel Henry addresses the 78th session of the United Nations Basic Meeting, on Sept. 22, 2023, at United Nations headquarters. Haiti’s prime minister has arrived in Kenya to attempt to salvage a plan to have the African nation deploy 1,000 cops to the troubled Caribbean nation to assist fight gang violence.Kenya agreed in October to guide a U.N.-authorized worldwide police power to Haiti. (AP Photograph/Craig Ruttle, File)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Heavy gunfire paralyzed Haiti’s capital Thursday as a robust gang chief introduced that he’ll attempt to seize the nation’s police chief and authorities ministers.
The transfer got here through the absence of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who’s in Kenya making an attempt to finalize particulars for the deployment of a foreign armed force to Haiti to assist fight gangs.
Gunmen shot at Haiti’s predominant worldwide airport and different targets in a wave of violence that caught many individuals without warning, forcing companies, authorities businesses and colleges to shut early as mother and father and younger youngsters fled by the streets in panic. At the least one airline, Dawn Airways, suspended all flights.
Jimmy Chérizier, often called “Barbecue” and chief of the gang federation G9 Household and Allies, was seen in a recorded video asserting that the intention was to tie up the police chief and authorities ministers and stop Henry from returning to Haiti.
“With our weapons and with the Haitian individuals, we’ll free the nation,” he stated.
A spokesman for the prime minister’s workplace couldn’t be instantly reached for remark. The pinnacle of Haiti’s Nationwide Police, Frantz Elbé, and police spokesman Garry Desrosiers didn’t return messages for remark.
It was not clear if Chérizier had the backing of different main gangs which are estimated to regulate as much as 80% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
Diego Da Rin, with the Worldwide Disaster Group, famous that Barbecue in his speech referred to a coalition referred to as Viv Ansanm, which suggests “residing collectively” in Haitian Creole. The coalition was created final 12 months as a part of a peace pact between Barbecue’s federation and one other highly effective gang referred to as G-Pep and had as a predominant purpose to deliver down Henry’s administration.
Nevertheless, the coalition crumbled simply days after it was introduced, and Da Rin stated it stays to be seen whether or not Barbecue really has the help of different gang leaders.
“I don’t understand how a lot credibility to offer Barbecue proper now,” Da Rin stated. “Rivalries between gangs are so sturdy and alliances ever shifting that it’s sophisticated they may act in a concerted method for a very long time with out a lot hassle.”
Nevertheless, he famous that gunmen launched coordinated assaults in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere in Haiti on Thursday. Along with the assault on the principle worldwide airport, gunmen additionally set fireplace to a police station in downtown Port-au-Prince.
The assaults got here a day after Henry met in Guyana with Caribbean leaders, who said he pledged to hold long-awaited general elections by mid-2025. It’s the third time he has introduced such a deadline, with earlier guarantees made in 2022 and 2023. There are currently no elected officials in Haiti, with Henry sworn in as prime minister with the backing of the worldwide neighborhood shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Henry went from Guyana to Kenya in hopes of transferring ahead on the deployment of Kenyan cops to Haiti. A courtroom within the East African nation ruled last month that the proposed deployment was unconstitutional, however Henry and Kenyan officers have been engaged on a deal that will permit forces to reach in Haiti quickly.
“There has at all times been the hazard that as discussions progress and the purpose of the mission will get nearer that the gangs will attempt to flex their muscular tissues and discourage the troops,” Da Rin stated.
The federal government of Haiti stated in a press release that Henry arrived in Kenya on Thursday. They didn’t say when he would return to Haiti.
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
