P-au-P., 2 from 2024 [AlterPresse] — The gangs have redoubled their terror against the population of various neighborhoods of the capital at a time when a new twist is observed in the Haitian political crisis, with the controversies surrounding the choice of leaders of the barely initiated transition.
Testimonies have reached AlterPresse about new bandit attacks and persistent gusts which terrorized families living in the city center or on the outskirts, during the evening of May 1 and during the night that followed.
Tension was at its height in several neighborhoods in the lower part of Delmas (northern outskirts) or surrounding this region, such as Nazon, Solino, Delmas 18 and 24, local residents reported to AlterPresse.
Calls were also made on social networks by people in difficulty in these neighborhoods, while detonations became more and more intense in the middle of the night.
In the evening, many people, including heads of households accompanied by young children, sought to leave areas of high tension.
In one month, tens of thousands of people have fled the capital. From Friday March 8 to Tuesday April 9, 2024, 94,821 people left the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince to take refuge in provincial towns, because of gang violence.
What will the new authorities do?
Appointed president of the Presidential Transitional Council on Tuesday April 30, former senator Edgar Leblanc promised that there would quickly be signals of taking charge of the security issue.
But, following this designation, the controversies arising in particular from the announcement of the choice of a prime minister outside the stages provided for in the crisis exit agreement of April 3, raise fears of a new twist in the crisis.
Such a situation would remove all hope of populations subjected to the fury of gangs of a resolution to the problem of crime which paralyzes the capital and affects various departments of the country.
On the afternoon of April 30, as the first signs of the controversy appeared, a desperate mother from lower Delmas, where house fires continued, described the members of the Council as “impostors”.
“The country is far from emerging from the abyss,” she said, in a conversation with AlterPresse.
If the actors of the Presidential Transitional Council do not quickly find common ground to make the necessary corrections and continue the process, delays could be recorded in the appointment of a prime minister and the formation of a government capable of execute a consistent roadmap.
From January to March 2024, around 2,500 people were killed or injured due to armed gang violence, an increase of 53% compared to the October to December 2023 quarter, according to a report by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (Binuh).
Since 2023, the violence has already caused the displacement of around 400,000 people, most of them in the capital. [apr 02/05/2023 00 :30]
Photo: screenshot
