Gangs that control much of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince launched an attack on Monday, clashing with the police in the city centre.

Gunfire broke out in the area of Champ de Mars, a big public park near the National Palace, which is the old presidential residence, local people said.

At least four police officers were wounded, according to the Miami Herald.

Haiti has had no President since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021 and it has no sitting parliament. Its last election was in 2016.

It has been wracked for decades by poverty, natural disasters, political instability and gang violence.

Since late February Haiti’s powerful gangs have teamed up as they attacked police stations, prisons, the airport and the sea port in a bid to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Unelected and unpopular, Mr. Henry announced on March 11 that he would step down to make way for a so-called transitional council.

But three weeks later the council has yet to be formed and installed amid disagreement among the political parties and other stakeholders due to name the next prime minister and because of doubts over the very legality of such a council.

In a statement on Monday, Mr. Henry’s office said the council has not yet been formed because Haiti’s constitution does not allow for such a body.

Mr. Henry is seeking advice from CARICOM, the Caribbean regional body overseeing this urgent transition process, the statement said.

In the meantime gang violence continues and people are enduring a severe humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, medicine and other basics.

Disagreements among delegates over who should head Haiti’s transitional council are stalling the body’s formation, a representative told AFP Monday, while over the weekend one member quit amid death threats.

The Caribbean nation’s security crisis has been intensified by a political one: elections have not been held since 2016, with Prime Minister Ariel Henry heading the country since President Jovenel Moise’s 2021 assassination.

As unrest has worsened under Henry’s rule — culminating when armed gangs united to launch attacks and demand his ouster late last month — the prime minister said he would resign once a transitional council was stood up.

But the body, supported by the United Nations and regional bloc CARICOM among others, is still struggling to come into shape two weeks after Henry’s March 11 announcement.

The transitional council — to be composed of seven voting members and two non-voting members — draws from Haitian political parties, the private sector and others, and is to name an interim prime minister and government to set the stage for fresh elections.

Its formation has dragged on amid arduous negotiations, though its composition changed again over the weekend.

Haiti’s ambassador to UNESCO Dominique Dupuy, chosen by one of the political coalitions, said she was stepping aside, citing threats against her and her family as well as misogynistic attacks.

She was the sole woman representative on the council, and was replaced by Smith Augustin, Haiti’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Holding up the official formation of the council is the disagreement over who should lead it, one of the delegates told AFP, speaking anonymously.

Meetings were held through the weekend and on Monday, with another one scheduled between delegates and CARICOM.

The meetings did make progress on several points, the delegate said, including on the criteria for becoming president of the council and for choosing the interim prime minister.

– Gang rule –

Ahead of the CARICOM meeting, a calm held across Port-au-Prince Monday morning, after a weekend of intense exchanges of gunfire in the Haitian capital, which has been under a state of emergency for almost a month.

While people made their way onto the street, however, the absence of government order could still be felt as schools and government offices remained closed.

Gangs are thought to control some 80 percent of the capital and swaths of the countryside.

The United Nations warned Monday that aid services in Port-au-Prince were still being disrupted by violence and insecurity.

“The crisis has crippled operations and hindered access to the few remaining facilities,” said Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Haq added that, according to the World Health Organization, fewer than half of the health facilities in Haiti’s capital are functioning at their normal capacity.

New Delhi:

India has launched ‘Operation Indravati’ to evacuate its nationals from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated in a post on social media platform X.

As part of the ongoing operation, 12 Indians were evacuated on Thursday.

Taking to his official X handle, Mr Jaishankar posted, “12 Indians evacuated today. Fully committed to the security and well-being of our nationals abroad.”

India begins Operation Indravati to evacuate its nationals from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.

12 Indians evacuated today. Fully committed to the security and well-being of our nationals abroad.

Thank the Government of the Dominican Republic for their support. pic.twitter.com/AC3VM63EmJ

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) March 21, 2024

“Thank the Government of the Dominican Republic for their support,” he added.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, in a weekly press briefing on March 15, said India was ready to evacuate its citizens from Haiti if need be.

“As you know, there is a crisis in Haiti. And if required, we will evacuate. We are ready to evacuate. And if required, we will do that,” Jaiswal stated.

Amid violence and looting in the impoverished Caribbean nation, a control room and an emergency helpline number were opened to evacuate distressed Indian nationals from Haiti.

“We have established a control room here in the Ministry of External Affairs. We have emergency helpline numbers,” Mr Jaiswal added in the press briefing.

On concerns over the safety of Indian nationals in Haiti, Jaiswal said the embassy in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, which holds accreditation for Haiti, was monitoring the situation.

“Our embassy in Santo Domingo is monitoring the situation and the ministry also is fully monitoring the situation,” Mr Jaiswal added at the presser.

Haiti has been under a state of emergency after some armed groups attacked the country’s largest prison in Port-au-Prince earlier this month, killing and injuring police and prison staff and enabling some 3,500 inmates to escape, according to CNN.

A leader of one of these armed groups, Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier, took credit for the prison break, saying it was part of a plan to overthrow acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s government.

The armed groups now control 80 per cent of Haiti’s capital, according to United Nations estimates, while continuing to fight for the rest. While Henry was out of the country, gangs laid siege to the country’s main airport to prevent his return.

The ongoing chaos has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, adding to the more than 300,000 already displaced by gang violence.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

People walk past the body of a man who, along with others, was shot dead earlier in the morning, amid an escalation in gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti March 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Gangs attacked two upscale neighbourhoods in Haiti’s capital early Monday, March 18, 2024, in a rampage that left at least a dozen people dead in surrounding areas.

Gunmen looted homes in the communities of Laboule and Thomassin before sunrise, forcing residents to flee as some called radio stations pleading for police.

The neighbourhoods had remained largely peaceful despite a surge in violent gang attacks across Port-au-Prince that began on February 29.

An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies of at least 12 men strewn on the streets of Pétionville.

“Abuse! This is abuse!” cried out one Haitian man who did not want to be identified as he raised his arms and stood near one of the victims.

The most recent attacks raised concerns that gang violence would not cease despite Prime Minister Ariel Henry announcing nearly a week ago that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created, a move that gangs had been demanding.

Also read: Haitians have little hope in interim government amid spiralling violence

Gangs have long opposed the Prime Minister Henry, saying he was never elected by the people as they blame him for deepening poverty, but critics of gangs accuse them of trying to seize power for themselves or for unidentified Haitian politicians.

Also on Monday, Haiti’s power company announced that four substations in the capital and elsewhere “were destroyed and rendered completely dysfunctional”. As a result, swaths of Port-au-Prince were without power.

In a bid to curb the relentless violence, Haiti’s government announced Sunday that it was extending a nighttime curfew through March 20.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness at the Pegasus Hotel during a meeting on Haiti at the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken huddled with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica behind closed doors on March 11 to urgently help find a way to ease Haiti’s growing violent crisis as embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry faces calls to resign or agree to a transitional council.

The closed-door meeting did not include Mr. Henry, who has been locked out of his own country while traveling abroad, due to surging unrest and violence by criminal gangs who have overrun much of Haiti’s capital and closed down its main international airports.

Also read | US military airlifts embassy personnel from Haiti, bolsters security

Mr. Henry remained in Puerto Rico and was taking steps to return to Haiti once feasible, according to a brief statement from the U.S. territory’s Department of State.

While leaders met behind closed doors, Jimmy Chérizier, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, told reporters that if the international community continues down the current road, “it will plunge Haiti into further chaos.”

“We Haitians have to decide who is going to be the head of the country and what model of government we want,” said Chérizier, a former elite police officer leader of a gang federation known as G9 Family and Allies. “We are also going to figure out how to get Haiti out of the misery it’s in now.”

The meeting in Jamaica was organized by members of a regional trade bloc known as Caricom, which for months has pressed for a transitional government in Haiti while protests in the country have demanded mr. Henry’s resignation.

“The international community must work together with Haitians towards a peaceful political transition,” U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Nichols will attend the meeting.

Concerns remain that a long-sought solution will remain elusive. Caricom said in a statement on Friday announcing the urgent meeting in Jamaica that while “we are making considerable progress, the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be.”

Mia Mottley, Barbados’ prime minister, said that up to 90% of proposals that Haitian stakeholders have “put on the table” are similar. These include an “urgent need” to create a presidential council to help identify a new prime minister to establish a government.

Her comments were briefly streamed by Caricom, in what appeared to have been a mistake, and then were abruptly cut off.

The meeting was held as powerful gangs continued to attack key government targets across Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. Since Feb. 29, gunmen have burned police stations, closed the main international airports and raided the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Scores of people have been killed, and more than 15,000 are homeless after fleeing neighborhoods raided by gangs. Food and water are dwindling as stands and stores selling to impoverished Haitians run out of goods. The main port in Port-au-Prince remains closed, stranding dozens of containers with critical supplies.

Mr. Henry landed in Puerto Rico last week after being denied entry into the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

When the attacks began, Henry was in Kenya pushing for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country that has been delayed by a court ruling.

A growing number of people are demanding Henry’s resignation. He has not made any public comment since the attacks began.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday urged Haiti’s gangs “to immediately cease their destabilizing actions,” including sexual violence and the recruitment of children, and said it expects that a multinational force will deploy as soon as possible to help end the violence. It urged the international community to support the Haitian National Police by backing the force’s deployment.

Council members also expressed concern at the limited political progress and urged all political actors to allow free and fair legislative and presidential elections.

A U.N. delegation attending Monday’s meeting includes the secretary-general’s chief of staff Courtenay Rattray, Undersecretary-General Atul Khare, who is in charge of U.N. logistics, and Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča, who is in charge of the Americas in the U.N. political office.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for the urgent deployment of the multinational force and that the mission be adequately funded, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Currently, funding is at only $10.8 million, with officials in Kenya demanding more than $230 million.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti:

With Haiti’s capital spiraling deeper into gang violence, members of several diplomatic missions, including staff from the United States and the German ambassador, began leaving Port-au-Prince Sunday.

Beleaguered residents were scrambling for safety following the latest spasm of unrest, with a UN group warning of a “city under siege” after armed attackers targeted the presidential palace and police headquarters.

Criminal groups, which already control much of Port-au-Prince as well as roads leading to the rest of the country, have unleashed havoc in recent days as they try to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry as leader of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.

The US military said early Sunday it had “conducted an operation to augment the security of the US Embassy at Port-au-Prince, allow our Embassy mission operations to continue, and enable non-essential personnel to depart.”

An “airlift of personnel into and out of the Embassy” was also in place, “consistent with our standard practice for Embassy security augmentation,” the statement from the military’s US Southern Command added.

The pre-dawn operation was apparently conducted by helicopter flights to and from the airport; an AFP correspondent and nearby residents heard the distinct sounds of chopper blades overhead.

A State Department spokesperson said the embassy “remains open, on limited operations” with reduced personnel.

The German foreign ministry meanwhile said its ambassador joined other European Union representatives in leaving for the Dominican Republic on Sunday.

“Due to the very tense security situation in Haiti, the German ambassador and the permanent representative in Port-au-Prince left for the Dominican Republic today together with representatives from the EU delegation,” a ministry spokesman told AFP, adding that they would work from there “until further notice.”

‘Living in fear’

CARICOM, an alliance of Caribbean nations, has summoned envoys from the United States, France, Canada and the United Nations to a meeting Monday in Jamaica to discuss the violence and ways to provide assistance to Haiti.

The vice president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, said that the countries will “seek to bring order and restore some faith in the people of Haiti.”

“Criminals have now take over the country. There is no government, it is becoming a failed society,” he added.

With dysfunction growing, bodies have been seen lying in Port-au-Prince streets.

The unrest has internally displaced 362,000 Haitians, the International Organization for Migration said Saturday.

“Haitians are unable to lead a decent life. They are living in fear, and every day, every hour this situation carries on, the trauma gets worse,” Philippe Branchat, IOM’s chief in Haiti, said in a statement.

“The capital is surrounded by armed groups and danger,” he said. “It is a city under siege.”

On Saturday, dozens of residents sought safety in public buildings, with some successfully breaking into one facility, according to an AFP correspondent.

And police late Friday repelled gang attacks, including on the presidential palace, and several “bandits” were killed, Lionel Lazarre of the Haitian police union said.

The well-armed gangs recently have attacked critical infrastructure, including two prisons, allowing most of their 3,800 inmates to escape.

Along with some ordinary Haitians, the gangs are seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Henry, who was due to leave office in February but instead agreed to a power-sharing deal with the opposition until new elections are held.

Washington has asked Henry to enact urgent political reform. He was in Kenya when the violence erupted and is now reportedly stranded in US territory Puerto Rico.

The UN Security Council gave its green light in October for a multinational policing mission led by Kenya, but that deployment has been stalled by Kenyan courts.

Homeless and ‘fleeing’

Port-au-Prince and western Haiti are under a month-long state of emergency, and a nighttime curfew is in effect until Monday, though it is unlikely overstretched police can enforce it.

In Port-au-Prince, Filienne Setoute told AFP how she had worked for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for more than 20 years.

That job meant she “was able to build my own house,” she said. “But now here I am, homeless. I’m fleeing without knowing where to go, it’s an abuse.”

Haiti’s airport remained closed while the main port — a key point for food imports — reported looting since suspending services Thursday.

“If we cannot access those containers, Haiti will go hungry soon,” non-governmental organization Mercy Corps warned.

In one hopeful sign, a Catholic parish said Sunday that four missionaries and an associate were freed after being kidnapped last month in Port-au-Prince, where abductions have become commonplace.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A demonstrator holds up an Haitian flag during protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The UN Security Council expressed its concern over the deteriorating situation in violence-gripped Haiti on Wednesday, as Washington ramped up pressure on absent Prime Minister Ariel Henry to secure a political settlement.

Armed gangs who control swaths of the country launched a coordinated effort to oust Mr. Henry last week, attacking the airport, prisons and police stations, while threatening a full-scale civil war.

The U.S. on Wednesday called for Mr. Henry to take steps to “finalise a political accord,” but did not urge his resignation — a key demand of powerful gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier.

Power-sharing deal

In power since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, Mr. Henry was due to leave office in February but instead agreed to a power-sharing deal with the Opposition until new elections are held. Mr. Cherizier warned on Tuesday that the worsening chaos would lead to civil war and mass bloodshed unless Mr. Henry stood down.

At least 15,000 people have fled the worst-hit parts of Port-au-Prince.

Malta’s UN ambassador Vanessa Frazier said that every Security Council member “shared the same concerns, that the security situation is obviously concerning.” Amid the latest unrest, Mr. Henry has been unable to return home. He was in Kenya to push for the deployment of a UN-backed multinational police mission to help stabilize his country when the attempt to oust him began.