PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: The United States on Tuesday (Nov 12) banned all civilian flights to Haiti for a month, a day after three jetliners approaching or departing from its gang-ridden capital Port-au-Prince were hit by gunfire.
The shootings provided a vivid glimpse of the violent chaos gripping Haiti as a new prime minister took the reins of a nation ravaged by poverty, chronic political instability and other woes.
The US Federal Aviation Administration’s move came after a Spirit Airlines jetliner arriving from Florida in Port-au-Prince was hit by gunfire and had to reroute to the Dominican Republic.
A flight attendant suffered minor injuries, and images posted online appeared to show several bullet holes inside the plane.
Two planes that left the Haitian capital on Monday were also hit, with single bullet holes detected in post-flight inspections in each case, the airlines said.
Both planes landed safely. They were a JetBlue flight to JFK Airport in New York and an American Airlines flight to Miami.
Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime was sworn in Monday, replacing outgoing premier Garry Conille, who was appointed in May but became embroiled in a power struggle with the country’s unelected transitional council.
Haiti remained cut off from the rest of the world, with its main airport closed and bursts of gunfire ringing out in several neighborhoods of the capital.
Many stores and schools were shuttered as people feared more attacks by the powerful and well-armed gangs that control some 80 per cent of the city, even though a Kenyan-led international force has been deployed to help the outgunned Haitian police restore order.
Violent crime in the capital city remains high, with gang members routinely targeting civilians and robberies, rapes and kidnappings are rampant.
The transitional council, aiming to put Haiti on a path to voting in 2026, had been tasked with stabilising a country that has no president or parliament and last held elections in 2016.
The US on Tuesday called on Haiti’s leaders to put personal interests aside and concentrate on getting the country back on its feet.
“The acute and immediate needs of the Haitian people mandate that the transitional government prioritise governance over the competing personal interests of political actors,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Source: CNA
