The US has begun evacuating citizens from Haiti by helicopter, amid fresh fighting in wealthy areas of the capital Port-au-Prince.
A woman holding a child ran from the area after hearing gunshots in Port-au-Prince on March 20 (Photo: AFP).
In a statement, the US State Department confirmed it was beginning to evacuate citizens from Haiti by helicopter, after nearly 1,600 citizens requested help amid reports of continuing violence in the capital. capital of this Caribbean country.
“The violence on the ground in Port-au-Prince is very serious and the security situation is certainly high risk. We would not have conducted such an evacuation if we felt it was unsafe and not in the right conditions.” “, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters on March 21 local time.
According to Mr. Patel, planes chartered by the government are in the process of starting to carry evacuees from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
Future evacuation flights will be reviewed on a daily basis, the spokesman added.
According to sources, there have been reports of new fighting in the Haitian capital, which is controlled by armed gangs. Heavy gunfire erupted in some of Port-au-Prince’s wealthiest areas.
“Sometimes it sounds like it’s two streets away, sometimes it sounds like it’s almost 1km away. But it keeps happening… This is the worst day,” said one resident.
Haiti has had a vacant presidency since Jovenel Moise, who came to power in 2017, was assassinated in 2021. The unpopular prime minister and acting president, Ariel Henry, was uprooted by rebel gangs. overthrow.
Over the past 2 weeks, Haiti has been paralyzed by gang violence. Until now, more than a week after Prime Minister Henry announced his resignation, the country is still in chaos due to gang violence.
Despite the proposed solutions, criminal gangs still control up to 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince, putting people’s safety in danger with fears of a disaster. humanitarian.
Aid groups say some 1.4 million Haitians are on the brink of famine and more than 4 million need food aid, with the majority of them getting just one meal a day or even more. I haven’t had anything to eat for the past few days.
According to a US official, Mr. Henry is currently in Puerto Rico – a US territory – because he was unable to return to Haiti after his visit to Kenya to seek support when the recent violence broke out.
As proposed by the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a Transitional Council would be responsible for electing an interim prime minister and a council of ministers to try to chart a new course for Haiti. However, so far, these efforts have remained stagnant.