Violent Armed Gangs Claim Power in Haiti and Vow Installation of New Government
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A coalition of wanted criminal armed gangs has claimed power in Haiti, blocking Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry from returning home after he had travelled to Kenya to sign an agreement allowing for a United Nations Security Council sanctioned international force to restore peace and security in Haiti.
In addition, the gangs are threatening to gun down any aircraft flying him back to the troubled Caribbean country, where a three-member presidential council would be installed as an acting executive branch.
Outspoken and leftist political leader, Jean-Charles Moise, said the new government would soon be installed with a judge, Durin Duret Jr., as chairman assisted by former rebel leader and former police commissioner Guy Philippe, and Francoise Saint-Vil Villier, from the religious sector, a close ally to Moise.
“PM Henry and all the other members of the government must resign or they will face the consequences,” Moise told journalists on Tuesday.
“Many ministers and other government officials have gone into hiding, because they are nowhere to be found,” Moise said, promising that members of government who would cooperate would have nothing to fear.
But, he warned “those who would remain faithful to Ariel Henry would have to face the population’s anger and would be sought after and chased.”
Moise has also warned foreign diplomats not to interfere with the countries’ internal matters, under the penalty of being kicked out of the country.
” Any good help from cooperating countries will be welcome, but everything should be done according to terms that take into account our own interests and dignity,” Moise told reporters.
Bursts of automatic weapons were fired, until late Monday night, from outside the international airport towards the landing runway, with gunmen simulating taking down an aircraft.
Footage obtained by Haitian-Caribbean News Network (HCNN) shows a man standing on the roof of a sports utility vehicle and firing a machine gun towards the runway, as to show what could happen to Henry tries to enter the country by air on Tuesday night.
And many of the gunmen came from nearby slums part of the larger gang coalition.
Members of the group appeared on Tuesday very determined to install a new regime to effectively lead the country, unless a firm and resolute decision by the United States or other big international players – such as Canada, France or Europe – to compel actors to do otherwise.
The gang members seem ready to start takeover process immediately with political observers noting “they now control the country; there’s absolutely no challenge to their efforts to establish themselves as Haiti’s new masters.”
Approximately 5,000 detainees have fled Haiti’s prison and the bodies of at least 14 people have been counted on the streets in different neighbourhoods of the capital Port-au-Prince, several rights groups told HCNN.
“At the national penitentiary, six or seven detainees were killed. Three were found dead in the immediate surroundings of the prison, while two or three were killed inside the facility,” said Pierre Rene Francois, Haitian police inspector general, in charge of the country’s jails.
