Panic strikes Port-au-Prince as residents flee gang violence
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP)— A wave of fear swept through Port-au-Prince Thursday as hundreds of families attempted to flee parts of the Haitian capital after a neighbourhood had been taken over by gangs, an AFP journalist saw.
On Wednesday, the Solino neighbourhood fell under the control of the “Viv Ansanm” (“Live Together”) gang alliance, which formed in February and worked to oust former Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who resigned from his post in April.
Residents of the Delmas 30, Nazon and Christ-Roi districts feared they could be the next targets of the gangs, with some seen fleeing on foot or in cars, carrying clothing, important documents and even furniture.
“I lived in Solino. I can’t stay there anymore. The criminals chased me out of my home,” said Marjorie, a woman who was carrying a few of her belongings on her head near the Nazon district.
“I have nowhere to go. I’m going to live on the street,” she lamented.
Port-au-Prince has been in the midst of a new spate of violence by Viv Ansanm since Monday, when businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime was sworn in as prime minister, replacing Garry Conille, who was fired by the Transitional Presidential Council.
Fils-Aime, who has been holding meetings to form his cabinet, has promised to restore security to the island nation and organise its first elections since 2016.
In the meantime, hundreds of residents have taken refuge in the Office de Protection du Citoyen (OPC) in the Bourbon neighbourhood, which has been transformed into a makeshift camp for those displaced from their homes.
Avenel, one of the residents of the camp came with his wife and three children after they had to flee their house in Solino.
“My oldest son was killed by gangs last March in Delmas. They set my house on fire,” Avenel told AFP. “I took refuge in another house in Solino. This one has gone up in flames too.”
The unrest comes after the US Federal Aviation Administration on Monday cancelled all commercial flights to Port-au-Prince from the United States due to the recent streak of violence, a move condemned by the Haitian government.
