The crisis in Haiti has achieved the reaction of the UN Security Council, which called an emergency meeting for March 6.
He UN Security Council decreed an emergency meeting for Wednesday, March 6, due to the violent situation it is going through Haiti following threats of civil war by gangs pushing for the prime minister’s resignation Ariel Henry.
Since February 29, criminal gangs have managed to control a large part of Port-au-Prince, the capital of the Central American country. Since then, they took over roads and attacked strategic places such as the Toussaint Louverture international airport and different prisons from which thousands of prisoners have escaped.
The surroundings of the airport became the scene of various clashes between security forces and gangs, on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. However, the main sources of conflict continue to be the streets surrounding the capital’s businesses. Meanwhile, public offices and schools remain closed.
Far from calming the situation, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, one of the leaders of one of the main gangs warned that if Henry did not resign they were headed towards a civil war. Additionally, Cherizier asked the international community to stop supporting the prime minister if they want a resolution. Ariel Henry, who was in Kenya when the conflict broke out, took power in 2021, after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, but his position was due to expire in February, the month in which he sealed a power-sharing agreement with the opposition until new elections are held. The last elections in Haiti, which currently operates without a Parliament or president, were held in 2016.
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Haiti: more than a thousand murdered since the beginning of 2024
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, declared: “We have asked the Haitian prime minister to move forward with a political process that will lead to the establishment of a transitional presidential body towards holding elections.” Meanwhile, Henry is in Puerto Rico, since he has not been able to land in Haiti due to the disturbances that occurred at the international airport and has been denied entry to the neighboring country of the Dominican Republic, according to his spokesperson, Homero Figueroa.
Volker Türk, UN human rights chief, stated that The situation in Haiti became more than unsustainable after more than a thousand have been murdered since the beginning of 2024. Türk, from Geneva, stated: “The reality is that, in the current context, there is no realistic alternative available to protect lives,” and called for the urgent deployment of a multinational mission to support the Haitian police. In addition to that, the world entity called this year to finance 674 million dollars to help what is the poorest country in America, but barely managed to raise 2.5% of the goal. In early January, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, had expressed dismay at the level of violence of the gangs that dominate the country. According to United Nations data, in 2023 the number of homicides has doubled, reaching 5,000, of which 2,700 are civilians.
The UN has begun distributing food and basic necessities in Port-au-Prince, where more than 15 thousand people have had to move from the most affected areas. In October of last year, the United Nations Security Council approved the sending of a multinational police mission, led by Kenya, where a bilateral agreement was signed on Friday to send more than a thousand agents, but it has not yet been agreed upon. the arrival date of said mission. Another of the countries willing to collaborate was Benin, with the sending of 1,500 troops.
Source: Ambito
