(Port-au-Prince) “This is not the time to forget Haiti,” the UN Secretary General pleaded on Saturday when he arrived in Port-au-Prince to show his “solidarity” with a stuck population. in a “tragic cycle” of violence, misery and health disasters.
“I am in Port-au-Prince to express my solidarity with the Haitian people and appeal to the international community to continue to support Haiti, including with an international force that can support the national police,” he said. he said in a tweet minutes after arriving for his first visit to the country as secretary general.
“Now is not the time to forget Haiti,” he added, while his spokesperson’s service recalled the “tragic cycle of security, political and humanitarian crises” endured by Haitians.
During this visit, which was kept secret until he landed in the capital, he was to meet Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the leaders of various political parties, as well as members of civil society and United Nations personnel.
Antonio Guterres had relayed in October a call for help from Ariel Henry, asking the Security Council to send an international force to support the police overwhelmed by gang violence which continues to spread.
But nine months later, that call is still unanswered. While a few countries have indicated that they are ready to participate, none has volunteered to lead such an operation in a country scalded by multiple foreign interventions.
Since this appeal, the UN has continued to describe the nightmare experienced by Haitians, snipers on the roofs, kidnappings, schools targeted, rape used as a weapon…
Last to date to describe this week the “horrors” of this “forgotten crisis”, the executive secretary of UNICEF Catherine Russell, back from Port-au-Prince.
“Never worse than today”
“The Haitians and our team there told me that the situation has never been worse than today. Unprecedented hunger and malnutrition, misery, paralyzed economy, resurgence of cholera, and massive insecurity that is creating a spiral of violence, while floods and earthquakes remind us of Haiti’s vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters”, a- she lamented.
Before transmitting the testimony of one of the multiple victims of gangs, an 11-year-old girl.
She “told me in the sweetest voice that five men grabbed her on the street. Three raped her,” she said.
“She was eight months pregnant when we spoke, she gave birth a few days later,” she said, recalling that gangs control more than 60% of the capital and large parts of the countryside.
Faced with this record violence, some residents have taken matters into their own hands.
In April, for example, a group of civilians seized several gang members from police custody, beat them to death and burned their bodies in the street.
And Haitian Foreign Cooperation Minister Ricard Pierre warned in June of the high risk of a “civil war” without foreign intervention.
Nearly half of the population, or 5.2 million people, also needs humanitarian assistance, including nearly 3 million children. Humanitarian aid hampered by gang violence and recent devastating floods.
The UN Secretary General will also stress “the need for an inclusive political process led by Haitians towards elections, and the return to constitutional order”.
No election has been held since 2016, and Ariel Henry, appointed prime minister just 48 hours before the last president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021, faces questions about his legitimacy.
After Haiti, Antonio Guterres will fly to Trinidad and Tobago where he will participate in the summit of the countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also go there during the week to discuss the Haitian file in particular.