(Port-au-Prince) A wind of panic reigned Thursday in certain areas of Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of families are trying to flee the gangs who took control of a strategic district of the Haitian capital the day before after months of attacks, noted an AFP journalist.
Posted at 5:55 p.m.
Residents of the Nazon, Delmas 30 and Christ-Roi neighborhoods fear being the next targets of the gangs ravaging Haiti and many of them are fleeing, on foot, in vans or on motorbikes, taking bags of clothes, important documents and even furniture.
The Solino neighborhood on Wednesday fell under the control of “Viv Ansanm” (Living Together), the gang alliance formed in February that managed to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
PHOTO ODELYN JOSEPH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Several families had to leave the Nazon district of Port-au-Prince.
They had been trying to seize the area for several months, because it offers several strategic advantages: overlooking several important road axes, it makes it possible to connect other neighborhoods under their rule with the city center.
“I lived in Solino. I can’t stay there anymore. The bandits chased me from my home. I have nowhere to go. I’m going to live on the street,” laments Marjorie, who carries her few personal belongings on her head near Nazon. “I can no longer listen to the whistling of bullets. It affects my mental health. I’m exhausted. »
Hundreds of residents took refuge in the premises of the Citizen Protection Office (OPC) in the Bourdon district, transformed into a center for displaced people, like other institutions or educational establishments for several months.
PHOTO MARCKINSON PIERRE, REUTERS
A small van collapses under the weight of furniture and personal effects in the Nazon district.
“My eldest son was killed by bandits in March last year at the bottom of Delmas. They burned down my house. I took refuge in Solino in another house. This one has also just passed under the flames,” laments Avenel, taking refuge in the OPC with his wife and three children.
Since Monday, Port-au-Prince has been facing a new outbreak of violence from “Viv Ansanm” in a context of political crisis marked by the dismissal of Prime Minister Garry Conille by the Presidential Transitional Council, replaced by the man of Alix Didier Fils-Aimé business.
The latter, invested on Monday, promised to restore security and organize the first elections in Haiti since 2016. He has since led consultations to form his ministerial cabinet.
The capital is also cut off from the rest of the world after the decision of the American aviation regulator (FAA) to ban commercial flights by American companies to Haiti after three planes came under fire on Monday.
