More than 50 dead in Haiti in clashes between gangs
Law enforcement officers arrest motorcyclists suspected of carrying firearms in a hot zone of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Shootings between rival gangs left 52 dead since Friday near the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, the mayor of the commune of Cité Soleil, Joël Janéus, said on Monday.
The shootings that took place in this vast slums of Port-au-Prince also injured more than a hundred, including at least 50 seriously, added Mr. Janéus.
“Bullets went through the roofs of houses and killed the people who were crouching in their homes”
—Joël Janéus, Mayor of Cité Soleil
I was contacted by young people who would like this war to end. But I can't do anything. I have no way, the mayor told the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste.
Gangs also prevent the ;access to the Varreux oil terminal.
West Indies Group, the Haitian conglomerate that operates this oil terminal, confirmed that no tanker trucks can enter or leave the terminal since Friday. This shutdown complicates supplies in a country plagued by fuel shortages.
Armed conflicts between the G-9 and G-Pep gangs threaten drivers who take the routes to the terminal, which represents 70% of the fuel storage capacity in the country, operators told the newspaper.
In the front row of the clashes, the inhabitants lack water and bread, underlines a resident of Cité Soleil who says she has seen the helplessness of the police.
The office of the Haitian Prime Minister , Ariel Henry, did not comment on the ongoing clashes in Cité Soleil.
Haitian gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
With information from Reuters, and Le Nouvelliste
