People walk past a shrouded body lying on a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on May 27.
| Photo Credit: AP

The story so far: Following a three-month forced shutdown, Haiti’s main international airport in Port-au-Prince reopened, sparking hopes for shipment of essential products. However, gang violence persists in the capital, though most of the gangs’ demands have been addressed. Meanwhile, after months of delay due to legal obstacles and violence, an advance team of the Kenyan special forces police landed in Haiti to combat the instability.

What is being done for stability?

After Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation on April 24, the formation of a Council with seven members was the first major development. The Council has been tasked with restoring order in Haiti, setting the agenda of a new Cabinet, forming a national security council, and appointing an electoral commission to help conduct polls. It enjoys the backing of the Caribbean countries and the U.S. Caricom, a Caribbean trade bloc which helped form the council, said that the installation of the “politically inclusive council signals the possibility of a new beginning for Haiti.” While Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert was appointed as interim Prime Minister, on April 30, former Minister Fritz Bélizaire was chosen for the post by the Council.

Also Read : Haiti capital a ‘city under siege’ amid spasm of gang violence

What is the situation at present?

Though there is a Council, there is also a divide. During its first task of choosing a Prime Minister, four of the seven voting members chose Mr. Bélizaire. This decision to appoint the little-known official was taken without consulting the rest of the council or holding a formal vote. This divide has reportedly strengthened worries of the Council using its position to further its own corrupt needs, following a pattern consistent with previous political officials in Haiti.

Moreover, gang violence continues. The insufficiently armed national police are still unable to counter the violence. Gang violence has become a part of daily life in Haiti over the last two decades, enabled by a weakened security apparatus, lack of effective law enforcement and widespread impunity. In the first three months of 2024, as per UN estimates, more than one person was killed due to gang violence every hour.

Why does gang violence continue?

One of the driving forces behind gang violence was the continued control exercised by Mr. Henry, and it was expected that his resignation would allow for a semblance of peace and stability. However, not only has the violence continued (though there has been a reduction), there are new concerns.

In May, UNICEF’s Representative in Haiti, Bruno Maes, noted that the “health system is on the verge of collapse” as it is faced with “violence, mass displacement, dangerous epidemic and increasing malnutrition.” Six out of 10 hospitals that are operational in the country are barely managing to function, and the biggest problem currently is the “strangling of supply chains.” About 1.6 million of the 4.4 million in Haiti face emergency levels of food insecurity, and the expected arrival of the monsoons will bring with it waterborne diseases such as cholera.

What is next for Haiti?

There are three specific challenges for Haiti. First, the divide within the transitional Council underscores the inherently fragile political landscape of the country. A rocky start may set the tone for the rest of its decisions and the country’s faith in it. Second, the persistent threat posed by armed gangs continues to loom large over Haiti, perpetuating a cycle of violence and insecurity that hampers efforts to restore law and order. Gangs have warned of more violence if they are not given a seat at the table with the Council, and if their demand for amnesty for their crimes is not granted.

Third, the deployment of a UN-backed security mission, comprised of Kenyan police forces, has sparked controversy and raised concerns about potential violation of human rights. While the mission aims to bolster efforts to combat gang violence and restore stability, there are fears that it may inadvertently exacerbate tensions and contribute to human rights abuses.

Dhriti Mukherjee is a Research Assistant at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru.

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.

American YouTuber Addison Pierre Maalouf, popularly known as YourFellowArab or Arab, has allegedly been kidnapped in Haiti by one of the gangs that become its de facto rulers. According to the New York Post, the Georgia-based YouTuber had travelled to the violence-stricken country to interview the nation’s most notorious gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier. However, just 24 hours after he arrived in Haiti, Mr Maalouf and a Haitian colleague were taken by members of the 400 Mawozo gang on March 14. 

According to The Post, the YouTuber is being held for a $600,000 ransom, and even though $40,000 has already been paid, the kidnappers are continuing to demand a large sum of money to secure Mr Maalouf’s release. 

Mr Maalouf has over 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube. He is famous for exploring dangerous places that are void of general tourism.

As the news of his disappearance spread online, fellow streamer Lalem confirmed that his friend had been taken hostage. “Tried keeping it private for two weeks, but it’s getting out everywhere now,” Lalem posted on X. “Yes Arab has been kidnapped in Haiti and we’re working on getting him out,” he added. 

In a separate post, Lalem also shared the last video Mr Maalouf posted online. The clip showed the YouTuber at a hotel in Haiti. In the video, he said that he and his crew intended to travel to the capital city of Port-au-Prince, but had to wait until the early morning hours so they could arrive in the sunlight. He also noted that Port-au-Prince is “completely run by gangs” and even though they had secured safe passage, “all it takes is one stupid gang member holding an AK-47 for one thing to go wrong”. 

This is the last video he recorded before he got kidnapped, if you have his number pls don’t text him while he’s in there for safety reasons. https://t.co/JJ7y1uVjGA

— Lalem (@Lalem) March 29, 2024

On March 10, Mr Maalouf also posted that he was “going on another one of those trips”. “If I die, thanks for watching what I’ve put out. If I live, all glory to God,” he wrote on X. 

By Friday, another YouTuber, Miles “Lord Miles” Routledge, claimed that he spoke to the kidnapped streamer. In a series of tweets, Mr Routledge said that Mr Maalouf was travelling with a fixer called Sean Roubens Jean Sacra, who was also kidnapped. “Arab has been kept in a cage in a place on the eastern outskirts of the Capital, Port-au-Prince,” he said.

“Arab has stated that despite the hardships, he’s going to come out with a great video after this, and he should be out in no time. Sean was actually offered to be let go, but he’s a great guy and doesn’t want to leave Arab on his own, so he has decided to stay,” Mr Routledge added.

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Mr Routledge also criticised the US government and the State Department for failing to secure Mr Maalouf’s release. He said they were “very hands-off on helping, even though Arab is a US citizen.”

Meanwhile, in a statement to The Post, The State Department confirmed that it is “aware of reports of the kidnapping of a US citizen in Haiti” but would not provide any details. “The US Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas. “We reiterate our message to US citizens: Do not travel to Haiti,” a spokesperson said.

Gangs have intensified their rampage in the downtown area of Haiti’s capital, setting fire to a school and looting pharmacies across the road from the country’s largest public hospital.

The attacks that began Monday and continued into early Tuesday mark nearly a month since gunmen began targeting key infrastructure across Port-au-Prince including police stations, the main international airport that remains closed and Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

“The violence and instability in Haiti have consequences far beyond the risk of the violence itself,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director, said in a statement Tuesday. “The situation is creating a child health and nutrition crisis that could cost the lives of countless of children.” The number of children in Haiti estimated to suffer from severe acute malnutrition has increased by 19% this year, according to UNICEF. In addition, some 1.64 million people are on the precipice of famine. “This malnutrition crisis is entirely human made,” Russell said.

Violence has forced the closure of roads and certain hospitals and prevented aid groups from delivering critical supplies at a time they are needed the most.

Only two of five hospitals in Haiti are operational across the country, according to UNICEF. In addition, the violence in Port-au-Prince has prevented the distribution of health and nutrition supplies for at least 58,000 children who are severely wasted, the agency said.

Scores of people have been killed in the ongoing attacks, and some 17,000 have been left homeless as Haiti’s National Police continues to be overwhelmed by heavily armed gangs that control 80 per cent of the capital.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden approved up to USD 10 million in emergency assistance for Haitian security forces to “protect civilians and critical infrastructure against organised and targeted gang attacks”, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre said the funding comes from the US Department of Homeland Security budget and can be used for materials including weapons, ammunition, bullet-proof vests and helmets.

Meanwhile, members of a regional trade bloc known as Caricom have pushed to accelerate the formation of a transitional presidential council in hopes it could soon help quell the ongoing violence.

Haiti’s criminal gangs have long opposed the current Prime Minister Ariel Henry, blaming him for deepening poverty, but critics of gangs accuse them of trying to seize power for themselves or for unidentified Haitian politicians.

The transition council would be responsible for choosing a new prime minister and a council of ministers. Henry, who was locked out of Haiti when the attacks began, has said he would resign once the council is created.

However, multiple setbacks continue to delay formation of the council, which will be composed of nine members, seven of them with voting powers.

On Monday, Rene Jean Jumeau, who was nominated to represent Haiti’s religious sector in a non-voting position, resigned.

“The need for concrete action is too strong to remain helpless in the posture of spectator,” he said in a letter addressed to the council.

Meanwhile, Col. Himmler Rebu, a former colonel of Haiti’s army and president of the Grand Rally for the Revolution of Haiti, a party that obtained a seat on the council, told Radio RFM 104.9 on Tuesday that he believes the council will fail.

Rébu said officials should just move quickly to Plan B, which he said should involve granting powers to a judge from Haiti’s Supreme Court to select the country’s new leaders.

Supporters of that plan include the Protestant Federation of Haiti. It issued a statement on Monday backing the selection of a Supreme Court judge who would serve as interim president and help choose a prime minister.

Caribbean officials said no additional meetings with nominated council members are planned for the week since they have asked for more time to work through various unidentified internal issues.

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.

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry speaks while addressing the nation, at an unidentified location on a date given as March 11, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced early on Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created, capitulating to international pressure that seeks to save the country overwhelmed by violent gangs that some experts say have unleashed a low-scale civil war.

Mr. Henry made the announcement hours after officials including Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Jamaica to urgently discuss a solution to halt Haiti’s spiraling crisis.

Mr. Henry has been unable to enter Haiti because the violence closed its main international airports. He had arrived in Puerto Rico a week ago, after being barred from landing in the Dominican Republic, where officials said he lacked a required flight plan.

It was not immediately clear who would lead Haiti out of the crisis in which heavily armed gangs have burned police stations, attacked the main airport and raided two of the country’s biggest prisons.

Kingston:

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has tendered his resignation as head of the Caribbean nation, the leader of a regional body said on Monday, an unelected role the 74-year-old neurosurgeon held since 2021.

“We acknowledge his resignation upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and naming of an interim prime minister,” said Caribbean Community chair Irfaan Ali, also the president of Guyana, thanking Henry for his service to Haiti.

Henry traveled to Kenya late last month to secure its leadership of a United Nations-backed international security mission to help police fight armed gangs, but a drastic escalation of violence in the capital Port-au-Prince during his absence left him stranded in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Henry’s resignation comes as regional leaders met earlier on Monday in nearby Jamaica to discuss the framework for a political transition, which the U.S. urged last week to be “expedited” while gangs called for Henry to step down.

Regional officials have been engaged in talks involving members of Haiti’s political parties, private sector, civil society and religious groups aimed at establishing the transition council that would pave the way to the first elections since 2016.

Henry, who many Haitians consider corrupt, had repeatedly postponed elections saying security must first be restored.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had earlier on Monday called for the creation of a “broad-based, inclusive, independent presidential college”.

This council would be tasked with meeting the “immediate needs” of Haitian people, enabling the security mission’s deployment and creating security conditions necessary for free elections, Blinken said.

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

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.)

Port-Au-Prince:

Residents of Haiti’s capital scrambled for safety on Saturday following the latest spasm of gang violence, 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.

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

The unrest has seen 362,000 Haitians internally displaced — more than half of them children and some forced to move multiple times, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) 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.

“People living in the capital are locked in, they have nowhere to go,” he said. “The capital is surrounded by armed groups and danger. It is a city under siege.”

Police on Friday night repelled gang attacks, including on the presidential palace, and several “bandits” were killed, Lionel Lazarre of the Haitian police union said. No police were among the victims.

The violence left burned-out vehicles, still smoldering, outside the Interior Ministry and on nearby streets, an AFP correspondent said.

Gunshots rang out late Friday throughout Port-au-Prince and witnesses recounted clashes “between police officers and bandits” as gangs apparently tried to commandeer police stations in the city center.

Lazarre on Saturday pleaded for “means and equipment” to protect police buildings and other key facilities.

State of emergency

The well-armed gangs have attacked key infrastructure in recent days, including two prisons, allowing the majority 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.

The United States has asked Henry to enact urgent political reform to prevent further escalation. But he was in Kenya when the violence broke out and is now reportedly stranded in the US territory of Puerto Rico.

After months of delays, the UN Security Council finally gave its green light in October for a multinational policing mission led by Kenya, but that deployment has been stalled by Kenyan courts.

Port-au-Prince and western Haiti have been placed under a month-long state of emergency and a nighttime curfew was in effect until Monday, though it was unlikely overstretched police could enforce it.

‘Running away’

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

“We haven’t been able to sleep since last night,” she added. “We’re running away.”

Haiti’s airport remained closed while the main port — a key point for food imports — reported looting since suspending services on Thursday, despite efforts to set up a security perimeter.

“If we cannot access those containers (full of food), Haiti will go hungry soon,” the NGO Mercy Corps warned in a statement.

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.

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said the meeting would take up “critical issues for the stabilization of security and the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance.”

The violence is threatening the country’s most vulnerable, including pregnant women and survivors of sexual violence, as the health system collapses.

Branchat, of IOM, deplored gang attacks on hospitals and “dire” lack of mental health services.

“Some hospitals have been run over by gangs and had to evacuate staff and patients, including newborns,” he said.

“Medical professionals across the capital are sounding the alarm as their capacity to deliver even the most basic medical services is severely diminished.”

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