“I had time to take two items of clothing, but I had no money at the moment,” laments a shopkeeper who lived in Carrefour Pernier
Since an extraordinarily violent gang offensive that occurred on January 30 in Pernier, a town in Pétion-Ville, several thousand people have fled the area, notes AyiboPost.
The conflict involves two rival gangs. Fleeing the abuses of the armed men of Kraze Barye and 400 Mawozo, most of the internally displaced persons took refuge at the Lycée Technique Joseph C. Bernard in Frère, then in the grounds of the Jean Marie Vincent high school in Caradeux.
“They burned then looted our houses,” Chrismène Paul told AyiboPost from an establishment in Frère.
“We fled without taking anything with us,” continues the lady.
A lady who leaves the area crying.
Originally from the locality White Stone PancakesPaul moved to Pernier in November 2023 due to insecurity.
Edwidge Eustache experiences a similar situation. The shopkeeper lived in Carrefour Pernier. She had to flee the area the same day.
“I had time to take two items of clothing, but I didn’t have any money at the moment,” she laments.
For the moment, this lady is staying with her sister in the town of Frère, while dozens of her neighbors are finding refuge in temporary shelters.
A family fleeing the Pernier area
This is the case of this sixty-year-old, father of five children who has lived in Pernier for around 40 years. The attack surprised him in the garden, he told AyiboPost.
Since then, he has left the area to take refuge in an establishment in Frère in precarious accommodation conditions. “We don’t sleep well here because I have to curl up to spend the night,” he complains.
These women are fleeing their home in Pernier. Tuesday January 30
This gang violence in Pernier comes following an attack by the 400 Mawozo gang in the area, specifically in Fatima.
The attack left victims and many displaced. And since then, the locality has become a confrontation camp between the two rival groups: 400 Mawozo from Croix-des-Bouquets and Kraze Baryè from Pernier.
In January 2023, the “Kraze baryè” gang under the leadership of Vitelhomme Innocent destroyed the Pernier police station with heavy equipment.
Controlling national road number 8, the bandits of the 400 Mawozo group are increasing cases of looting, extortion and hijacking of goods trucks.
The Mawozo are also involved in smuggling along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to acquire firearms and ammunition, we read in United Nations resolution 2653 (2022).
Read also: Help ! The persistent cry of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite abandoned to bandits
For human rights defender, Gédéon Jean, “gangs enter into a logic of conquest of territory because these places can be lucrative”.
It’s not just the economic side, it’s also a power struggle as a prelude to the new elections, continues Gédéon.
Since the expansion of gangs in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, more and more people are without housing, in a context of increasing murders.
Read also: Pictures | The horror has not abandoned Carrefour-Feuilles!
Last year, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) has recorded more than 8,000 direct victims of violence, an increase of 120% compared to 2022.
According to assessments by the International Organization for Migration, these attacks in Pernier caused the displacement of 1,398 people.
The CARDH estimates the number of people present at the Joseph C. Bernard de Frère high school at 800. The Lycée de Jean Marie Vincent has nearly 400 people, according to the organization which estimates the number of internally displaced people from this area at 5,000.
Most of these people who left Pernier are staying with relatives in more than twenty places such as: Vivy Mitchel, Delmas 105, Jalousie, Meyotte, Morne Hercule, Boutilier, Puits-Blain, etc.
Residents of Route-Frères show solidarity with the refugees.
If the clashes intensify in the surroundings of Pernier leading to a massive displacement of residents into shelters with difficult and precarious sanitary conditions, there is still no assistance from the State, according to an organization of field contacted by AyiboPost.
Par Jérôme Wendy Norestyl et Jean Feguens Gifts
Cover image: A woman evacuating the area with a baby. Tuesday January 30/in front of Sainte Claire Church| © Jean Feguens Regala/AyiboPost
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