The United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights stated not less than 3,000 folks have been pressured to flee after assaults by gang members early Thursday.
Gunmen from the Gran Grif gang attacked a city in central Haiti, killing not less than 70 folks and forcing 3,000 to flee.
The assault passed off on Thursday in Pont-Sonde, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Port-au-Prince, the Workplace of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights stated on Friday.
The United Nations added that not less than 16 folks have been critically injured within the assault, together with two gang members who have been shot throughout a shootout with Haitian police.
Gang members additionally reportedly set hearth to not less than 45 houses and 34 automobiles, the workplace stated.
Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, stated in an announcement that “members of the Glengreave gang used automated rifles to shoot at folks, killing not less than 70 folks, together with about 10 ladies and three infants.” was “horrified” by the assault.
U.N. Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres additionally condemned the assault, his spokesman stated Friday.
Haitian Prime Minister Garry Cornier condemned the assault on X, saying “the heinous crime in opposition to defenseless ladies, males and kids is an assault not solely on the victims, however on the complete nation of Haiti”.
“To those that unfold terror, I say this: You’ll not undermine our resolve. You’ll not subdue this individuals who have all the time struggled for dignity and freedom. We are going to by no means hand over our proper to stay in peace, safety and justice. ,” Cornier stated.
‘Mindless’ violence
The prime minister’s workplace stated on Friday that extra safety forces, backed by a Kenyan-led worldwide police mission, had been deployed in a single day to answer the assault.
Nevertheless, Glengrive chief Lexon Elam, who’s beneath UN sanctions, accused the federal government and assault victims of remaining passive whereas gang members have been killed.
“It’s the residents of Pont-Sonde who’re at fault. What occurred on the sounding bridge is the fault of the state,” he stated in a message posted on social media.
Though the motive for the assaults is unclear, such assaults have occurred within the capital, with 80% of them managed by gangs and infrequently associated to turf wars.
However Pont-Sonde is taken into account a part of the Gran Grif territory. The world is a significant rice producer in Haiti’s Artibonite area.
Artibonite has skilled a few of Haiti’s worst violence exterior Port-au-Prince, resulting in extreme meals shortages and worsening starvation for half the nation’s inhabitants.
Final week, the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights stated greater than 3,661 folks had been killed in “mindless” gang violence within the nation to date this 12 months.
The battle has additionally displaced not less than 700,000 folks, in keeping with the Worldwide Group for Migration.
