gang delinquency
Hundreds of Haitians attended a collective funeral Saturday for eight people killed in a drone attack last month in a gang-controlled shantytown in the capital Port-au-Prince.
On September 20, explosive drones targeting a suspected gang leader killed nine people inside a shantytown in Haiti’s capital and wounded 17 others, according to international medical NGO Doctors Without Borders, which treated some of the victims.
The explosions happened in Cité Soleil, which is controlled by Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition that the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organisation. Relatives and activists have blamed police for the attack.
Family members and residents of Cité Soleil mourned the victims, including four children, at a park in the community.
Still traumatised by the attack, some attendees mistook a bird flying overhead for a drone, sparking panic as people ran in different directions. Many fled the scene.
Claudia Bobrun, 30, said she did not have the strength to look at the coffin of her 8-year-old daughter, Samira Nelson.
She described her daughter as a happy child who died while playing with friends. Community leaders helped cover the costs of the funeral.
Jislene Statune said she lost two grandchildren and her eldest daughter, who was the head of the family. Her 32-year-old daughter, who sold used clothes to support relatives, was killed in front of her home.
Gang Suppression Force
On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize a 5,550-member international force with expanded powers to help stop escalating gang violence in Haiti.
The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Panama, will transform a Kenya-led multinational force currently on the ground in Haiti into a ‘Gang Suppression Force’ with the power to arrest suspected gang members, something it doesn’t currently have.
Gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenal Moïse in 2021. They now control 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have expanded their activities, including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape, into the countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.
Gang violence has left more than 1.3 million people homeless across Haiti in recent years, and hunger and poverty are only deepening.
You may also like
Most read
