At least 184 people died in Port-au-Prince this weekend during violence orchestrated by a gang leader, the UN said Monday in Geneva. “Last weekend alone, at least 184 people were killed in violence orchestrated by the leader of a powerful gang in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, in the Cité Soleil district,” Volker said. Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, during a press conference.
“These latest murders bring the death toll in Haiti this year to the staggering number of 5,000 people,” underlined Volker Türk, who gave no further details on the events that occurred during the weekend in the Haitian capital.
The American daily New York Times reported for its part the murder of more than 100 people this weekend in the Haitian capital, referring to an NGO based in Port-au-Prince, National Human Rights Defense Network. Contacted by AFP, the organization did not immediately respond.
Hundreds of thousands of people displaced
Haiti has suffered for decades from chronic political instability and a security crisis linked to the presence of armed gangs accused of murders, kidnappings and large-scale sexual violence.
Gang violence, already endemic in the Caribbean country, has worsened since February. The latter control 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. This violence has pushed more than 700,000 people, half of them children, to flee their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Supported by the UN and Washington, a multinational police support mission led by Kenya began deploying this summer.
