Haiti's Police Chief Urges His Officers to Remain United Amid Escalating State of Emergency

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti’s police chief, Frantz Elbe, has called on his officers to close ranks to better defend the country even as Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry faces increasing pressure to resign.

Elbe has called on police officers to join the struggle to defeat the armed gangs and to prevent Haiti from completely collapsing, as he paid tribute to a number of police officers killed during confrontations with armed bandits.

“We bow before the memory of our police officers who have died in the line of duty. We salute the courage and the determination of our valiant police officers,” Elbe stated in a pre-recorded statement obtained by the Haitian-Caribbean News Network (HCNN), a partner of the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“They have stood strong in defending the population and have prevented the country from completely falling apart,” said the Police Chief adding “sisters and brothers police officers, I’m asking you to join in this struggle to prevent the country from dying.”

Groups linked to rebel leader, Guy Philippe, promised on Thursday to remove the Henry administration and install an interim administration as part of a presidential council tasked with governing the country.

“Let’s remain united and let’s avoid manipulations. It’s our duty to defend the population. It’s our duty to defend our family and to protect ourselves,” Elbe said, adding “we are doing it together. The police high command and you have become one.

“Our mission is to serve and protect everybody, regardless of their political affiliation, for we’re not involved with politics,” Elbe said, promising to stand with the rest of the police so that they may come out victorious in such fights.

The statements were made amid accusations that Elbe’s leadership has failed, as the under-equipped and corrupt police have lost various showdowns with armed gangs who have taken over more than a dozen police stations over the past week alone.

“We’ll stand strong and won’t let go. We call on the population to continue to support the police in its struggle to protect the country’s future. We’ll do all we can to prevent the collapse of the society. Victory will be on our side,” Elbe added.

Thursday, the government announced an extension to the state emergency around Port-au-Prince for another month following last weekend’s wave of gang violence that has led thousands to flee their homes.

A declaration published in the official Gazette said the state of emergency would extend until April 3, with a nightly curfew until March 11 and that this was in order to “reestablish order and take appropriate measures to retake control of the situation.”

The authorities had first announced the state of emergency and curfew on Sunday evening as fighting escalated and the criminal gangs allowed for thousands of inmates to be freed from two of the main prisons here.

The state of emergency bans all public protests, day and night, and allows security forces to use “all legal means” at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend those who break it, the government said, adding emergency services, security forces and some journalists will be exempt from curfew.

Prime Minister Henry remains stranded in Puerto Rico after having travelled first to Guyana to attend the CARICOM summit and then Kenya where he signed an agreement allowing for the UN Security Council sanctioned international force led by the African country to restore peace and security in his troubled country.

CARICOM on Wednesday said it has not been “able to reach any form of consensus” regarding the situation in Haiti despite working on the issue over the past three days.

“Despite of many, many meetings we have not yet been able to reach any form of consensus between the government and respective stakeholders in the opposition, the private sector, civil society and religious organisations, CARICOM Chairman and Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali said in a video statement.

The UN humanitarian affairs agency on Thursday also warned that the country’s health system was “nearing collapse,” with shortages of staff, equipment, beds, drugs and blood to treat patients with gunshot wounds.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said two dozen trucks carrying vital equipment, medical supplies and food were stuck at the capital’s port,  adding it had suspended its maritime transport service, citing the “insecurity.”

The WFP’s maritime transport service, the U.N. said, “is currently the only means of transporting food and medical supplies for humanitarian and development organizations from Port-au-Prince to other parts of the country.”

Doctors without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that at least 2,300 people had been killed in the violence in 2023 in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cite Soleil alone, home to 9% of the capital’s population.

“It is likely the real scale of the violence is much higher. The aid group had a day earlier reopened an emergency clinic in the capital, shuttered after armed men intercepted an ambulance and killed a patient in the street,” MSF said.

Meanwhile, media reports have said that armed men had broken into the capital’s main cargo port, CPS, and had looted containers.

In a statement, CPS said it had been the target of “malicious sabotage and vandalism,” forcing it to suspend its services.