The leader of Haiti’s transitional presidential council tried to allay surging alarm among Haitians over rampant gang violence and promising new measures to stop the bloodshed.
Fritz Alphonse Jean spoke a day after gunfire erupted in the Port-au-Prince capital as thousands of protesters demanding an end to gang violence clashed with police outside the offices of the council and the prime minister.
It was the biggest protest held since the council was installed a year ago.
“Haitian people, you’ve spoken, and we’ve heard you,” Jean said. “We understand your misery. We know your pain and your suffering.”
More than 4,200 people have been reported killed across Haiti from July to February, and another 1,356 were injured, according to the United Nations.
Recent gang violence also left more than 60,000 people homeless in one month alone, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
According to observers, the speech came at a decisive moment for the transitional council because the groups that originally supported this government are now calling for a change in leadership.
The council has not addressed those concerns, which also have been voiced by the international community.
During his public address, Jean rattled off a list of neighborhoods that gangs have recently attacked.
“You lost your homes, you lost your businesses, you lost your jobs, they raped you, they raped your kids. The criminal gangs killed a lot of people,” he said.
“The fight against the darkness is not insignificant. But we are not insignificant ourselves… It’s nothing compared with the battle we fought to get out of slavery.”
Jean referenced how Haiti became the world’s first free Black republic in a bid to rally support from Haitians, asking them to help law enforcement officials and eschew efforts by gangs to recruit people, especially children.
Jean said the council would take “important measures” to help quell the persistent violence, including setting aside a special budget and incorporating agents from an armed state environmental group known as BSAP.
He did not provide further details, including how much money would be set aside for the budget and how many BSAP agents would join the fight against gangs.
Haiti has not had a president since former President Jovenel Moïse was killed in July 2021, with gangs becoming increasingly powerful in the aftermath.
Source: Africanews
