A new gang fighting in Haiti kills 20 and displaces thousands

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Fighting between gangs in recent days has killed at least 20 people, injured nearly two dozen and caused thousands to flee their homes, the Civil Protection Agency said Wednesday.

Officials said the fighting began on Sunday in four districts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, north of the international airport. At least a dozen homes were torched as thousands of people fled their communities, with some staying temporarily in the yard of the local mayor’s office.

The clashes come amid an upsurge in violence and kidnappings as the gangs grow in strength and seek to seize more territory amid the power vacuum after President Jovenel Moss was assassinated on July 7.

The situation has angered and frustrated Haitians, who are demanding action from Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s administration, which is receiving international help to bolster an underfunded and understaffed police force.

Authorities said a family of eight, including six children, had been among the dead since Sunday. Schools and businesses in the area remain closed as thousands of families with children temporarily stayed in a park near the local mayor’s office.

“They need water, food and supplies,” said Jean-Raymond Dorseli, who runs a small grassroots community organization. “They had to leave with nothing in their hands.”

He said the neighborhood is usually quiet and that his child often plays in the garden, which has now been turned into a temporary outdoor shelter.

“I can see children crying because they are hungry and families have nothing to offer them,” he said, adding that needs are increasing as the fighting continues. “I do not know what it will be like tomorrow.”

Authorities said a single bullet hit an empty UN humanitarian air service helicopter near the airport.

“The conflict is likely to escalate in the coming days, leading to more casualties and new population migration,” the Civil Protection Agency said.

Officials have warned that major roads to northern Haiti may be cut off as a result of the fighting.

Gang violence in the Martissant community in southern Port-au-Prince has already cut off access to the southern region of the country, which is trying to recover from last year’s deadly earthquake.

The violence in Martissant displaced thousands of families last year who spent months in crowded and unsanitary government shelters in and around Port-au-Prince. It was not immediately clear where the newly displaced families were staying.

The Civil Protection Agency blamed this week’s violence on fighting between the Chin Man gang and the rival 400 Mauzu gang. which was implicated in the kidnapping of 17 American missionaries last year.

The Haitian Citizen Protection Office, like the Ombudsman, issued a statement condemning the violence. She criticized the political leaders, saying their inaction and silence had brought “a form of ridicule or contempt for human rights, especially the right to life and security”.

The office also questioned whether the area known as Plaine du Col de Sac had become another Martisant and called on the authorities to assume their responsibility to protect citizens.

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Author Danica Coto of the Associated Press in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed to this report.

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