US bans airlines from flying to Haiti after planes shot down by gangsExBulletin

Journalists take cover from exchanges of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday. Odelyn Joseph/AP .

switch captionOdelyn Joseph/AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti The Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot down three planes and the United Nations also temporarily suspended flights to Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, limiting humanitarian aid entering the country.

Bullets hit a Spirit Airlines plane as it prepared to land in the capital on Monday, injuring a flight attendant and forcing the airport to close. Photos and video obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane.

On Tuesday, JetBlue and American Airlines announced that post-flight inspections revealed their planes were also shot down Monday as they were leaving Port-au-Prince. Americans have suspended flights to the capital until February 12.

The shootings were part of a wave of violence that erupted as the country plagued by gang violence swore in its new prime minister after a tumultuous political process.

A police officer witnesses an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday. Odelyn Joseph/AP .

switch captionOdelyn Joseph/AP

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the agency documented 20 armed clashes and more roadblocks affecting humanitarian operations during Monday's violence. Port-au-Prince's airport will remain closed until November 18 and Dujarric said the UN would divert flights to the country's second airport, located in the more peaceful northern town of Cap Hatien.

Reduced access to the epicenter of the violence, Port-au-Prince, risks being devastating as gangs stifling life outside the capital have pushed Haiti to the brink of famine. Dujarric warned that cutting flights would mean “limiting the flow of humanitarian aid and humanitarian personnel into the country.”

Already, a convoy of 20 trucks filled with food and medical equipment in the south had been postponed and a cash assistance operation for a thousand people in the Carrefour area where violence broke out had to be canceled.

Police officers patrol Tuesday near Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Odelyn Joseph/AP .

switch captionOdelyn Joseph/AP

“We are doing everything possible to ensure continued operations in this challenging environment,” he said. “We call for an end to the escalation of violence, to allow safe, sustainable and unhindered humanitarian access. »

On Tuesday, life in much of the Haitian capital was frozen after the wave of violence. Heavily armed police officers in armored vehicles checked trucks used by public transport passing by outside the airport.

Schools were closed, as were banks and administrations. The streets, where only the day before gangs and police were locked in a violent exchange of fire, were eerily empty, with few people riding other than a motorcycle with a man who had been shot hanging on the back.

The sounds of heavy gunfire still echoed through the streets in the afternoon, a reminder that despite political maneuvering by Haitian elites and strong pressure from the international community to restore peace, the country's toxic gangs maintained their hold on a much of this Caribbean country. .

A view of Toussaint Louverture International Airport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Tuesday. Odelyn Joseph/AP .

switch captionOdelyn Joseph/AP

The United Nations estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. A UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell gang violence is facing a lack of funding and staffing, prompting calls for a UN peacekeeping mission.

President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti, was the first leader on the island to condemn the violence, calling the shooting a “terrorist act.”

On Tuesday, a transition council created in April to restore democratic order in Haiti also condemned the violence.

“This cowardly crime, which threatens the sovereignty and security of Haiti, aims to isolate our country on the international scene. The perpetrators of these heinous acts will be hunted down and brought to justice,” the council wrote in a statement.

Police officers patrol Tuesday near Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Odelyn Joseph/AP .

switch captionOdelyn Joseph/AP

The council has received harsh criticism from many in Haiti who say its political struggles and allegations of corruption against three of its members have created political instability, allowing gangs to seize power in violent ways like those seen Monday.

This came to a head over the weekend, when he sacked former interim prime minister Garry Conille, long at odds with the council. They replaced him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aim, who was sworn in on Monday surrounded by civil servants and diplomats in suits as gangs terrorized the capital around them.

Neither Fils-Aim nor Conille have commented on the wave of violence.

Conille initially called the council's decision illegal, but acknowledged Fils-Aim's appointment in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday.

“(I) wish him success in accomplishing this mission. At this crucial moment, unity and solidarity are essential for our country. Long live Haiti!” he wrote. Fils-Aim promised to work with international partners to restore peace and organize long-awaited elections, a wish also made by his predecessor.

But many Haitians, like Martha Jean-Pierre, 43, have little taste for political fighting, which experts say only gives gangs more freedom to continue expanding their control.

Jean-Pierre was among those who braved the streets of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to sell the plantains, carrots, cabbage and potatoes she carried in a basket on her head. She had no choice, she said that selling was the only way for her to feed her children.

“What is the point of a new prime minister if there is no security, if I cannot move freely and sell my goods?” she said, pointing to her basket of vegetables. “It's my bank account. It's what my family depends on.”

It's a frustration that has concerned international actors like the UN and the United States who have pushed for a peaceful resolution in Haiti.

On Tuesday, the US State Department lamented that Conille and the Council “have not been able to move forward constructively” and called on Fils-Aim and the Council to provide a clear action plan outlining a vision common on how to reduce violence and pave the way for violence. the way forward for elections to be held in order to “prevent further impasses”.

“The acute and immediate needs of the Haitian people demand that the transitional government prioritize governance over the competing personal interests of political actors,” he wrote in a statement.

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