Haiti extends curfew at night and state of emergency

Haiti’s leaders said they will continue to have a state of emergency and a curfew at night to stop violent gang attacks in Port-au-Prince. This is part of a fight for political control.

A curfew was supposed to last for three days, but gangs are still attacking police stations and other government buildings at night. The police in Haiti are having a hard time stopping the violence because they don’t have enough people and resources.

“The people with the guns basically control Haitian politics,” explained Robert Fatton, who is an expert in Haitian politics at the University of Virginia. “The gangs are winning the fight for now. ”

The attacks started one week ago, after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would have elections in mid-2025, while at a meeting with leaders from the Caribbean in Guyana. Gangs have set fire to police stations, fired guns at the main airport, and broke into Haiti’s two largest prisons, letting more than 4,000 prisoners go free.

At that time, Henry went to Kenya to ask for a UN-supported police force from the East African country to go to Haiti and help stop gangs. In January, a court decided that sending the troops was not allowed. It’s not certain if the troops will still go to Haiti because the situation there is getting worse.

Henry is now in Puerto Rico because armed groups stopped him from returning home on Tuesday. They made it impossible for him to land at the airport.

Many people have been killed in recent gang attacks in Haiti, including some police officers. The fighting has made over 15,000 people have no place to live, and also 300,000 people lost their homes because of gang fights.

Also, there were reports that on Thursday gangs stole food from shipping containers at the main port in Port-au-Prince. This raised worries that the food supply in the capital and other areas would run out fast.

Laurent Uwumuremyi, the director of Mercy Corps in Haiti, said that if we cannot get to those containers, people in Haiti will run out of food soon.

The port operator, Caribbean Port Services SA, announced on Thursday that it is stopping all activities due to harmful acts of damage and destruction.

The UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said that because of the danger, the World Food Program had to stop using boats to take food and medicine from Port-au-Prince to other places in the country. Twenty-four trucks with equipment, medical supplies, and food are unable to move from the port in Port-au-Prince.

He also said that the UN special representative for Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, wants the UN to send a group of soldiers right away to stop the country from falling into more chaos because gang violence in Haiti is at an all-time high.

Salvador is talking a lot with the prime minister, the government, and other political groups to help Haitians solve their problems peacefully.

Meanwhile, an American A Marine Corps security team called FAST is going to Haiti to keep the U. SsafeAn embassy is like a home for ambassadors from one country in another country. It’s a place where they work and represent their country’s interests. The official talked, but didn’t want to say their name because they weren’t allowed to talk about the deployment. A final choice about where to send something has not been made yet.

“The country is in trouble and everyone sees it,” said Fatton, who had negative things to say about the U. SThe government didn’t do anything for over two years and now Haiti is in a bad situation. “I am really surprised. ” I thought I had seen it all.

Gunshots could still be heard in parts of Port-au-Prince on Thursday. People were blocking roads with burning tires and calling for new leaders for the country, which has been through a lot. Schools and businesses stayed closed, but some neighborhoods saw a few stores and banks open for limited hours.

Germain André, a 40-year-old shop owner, has been having a hard time finding food to sell in Port-au-Prince because there is not enough food available due to people moving around in fear. He sells things like rice, oil, beans, and milk in his store.

“He said that traveling is really frightening because armed groups have been stopping cars. ” No one is safe. Everyone is afraid of one another. We are not sure if they are part of a gang.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force set up a blockade in the southeast of the Bahamas because of the worsening situation in Haiti. This was because there were two jail breaks and a lot of Haitians were forced to leave their homes because of the violence. Haitians like to go to the Bahamas, which is about 530 miles north, to escape their country.

ambassador to the United Nations, addressed the Security Council on the ongoing crisis in Yemen.