Wednesday April 2, 2024 ((rezonodwes.com)) – While rival terrorist gangs, armed to the teeth and with merciless violence, carry out attacks on 90% of the territory, some 3 million Haitian children are faced with an acute risk of starvation.
The United Nations Security Council, which until now supported the puppet government of Ariel Henry, is sounding the alarm in the face of the worsening situation which has made the country too dangerous for the humanitarian organizations of the international community, such as UNICEF, can come to the rescue.
“Insecurity in Port-au-Prince has made it virtually impossible to deliver health and nutritional supplies to at least 58,000 children suffering from severe wasting in the metropolitan area,” said Catherine Mary Russell, executive director of the UNICEF.
Severe wasting is a form of malnutrition that endangers the child’s life. According to UNICEF, 15,000 Haitian children are already at the stage of malnutrition, as the violence prevents the arrival of vital supplies by land, air and sea.
Satellite images show how gangs united by the PHTK regime, supported for more than ten years by the international community, barricaded the cranes of the capital’s main port, blocking 300 containers of humanitarian supplies.
Another access route was blocked last month when government troops lost control of the city’s international airport. They were caught by the gang to whom they had given the airport.
UNICEF estimates that half of these armed terrorist groups have children recruited or forced to join their ranks.
“All children associated with armed groups encountered by security forces must be treated first and foremost as victims and safely handed over to child protection actors,” Ms Russell said.
But there is no timetable or solid plan to restore order in the country. It is hoped the gangs will allow a seven-member transitional council, which has not yet been formed, to restore governance and appoint a new prime minister. For now, plans for Kenya to lead a multinational force as part of a UN-backed mission remain in draft form.
Meanwhile, supplies in the few remaining Haitian hospitals are dwindling and medical care is falling to average levels. Cancer and AIDS patients have virtually no access to life-saving drugs; even inhalers for asthmatics are out of stock.
Humanitarian organizations are setting up logistics infrastructure in Cap-Haitien, where a secondary international airport and port remain operational. But there is currently no safe route to deliver food and medicine to those who have taken refuge in lawlessness and gang brutality.
