Haiti gang fighting sees at least 20 die and thousands flee their homes

At least 20 people have been killed and thousands have been chased from their homes due to gang fighting in the Haiti capital.

A family of eight, including six children, are among those killed in Port-au-Prince, authorities said on Wednesday.

At least a dozen homes were burned down and many of those who fled initially took shelter in the yard of a local mayor’s office.

The Caribbean country’s Civil Protection Agency said the fighting began on Sunday in four neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince, north of the international airport in Haiti.

The killings comes amid a spike in violence and kidnappings as gangs grow more powerful and seek to control more territory amid the power vacuum following the 7 July assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

The situation has angered and frustrated Haitians, who are demanding action from Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s administration, which is receiving international help to boost an underfunded and understaffed police force.

Schools and businesses in the area where the fighting took place remain closed as thousands of families with children are camping in a park near the office of the mayor.

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“They need water, food, supplies,” said Jean Raymond Dorcely, who runs a small grassroots community organisation. “They had to leave with nothing in their hands.”

He said that the neighbourhood is usually quiet and that his child often plays in the park – now turned into a makeshift outdoor shelter.

“I can see kids crying because they’re hungry and families don’t have anything to provide to them,” he said, adding that needs were growing as the fighting continued.

“I don’t know what it’s going to be like tomorrow.”

Authorities said that along with the dead, two dozen people have been injured in the violence, and that one bullet hit an empty United Nations Humanitarian Air Service helicopter stationed near the airport.

“The conflict is likely to escalate in the coming days, leading to further casualties and new population migrations,” the Civil Protection Agency said.

Officials warned that main roads leading to Haiti’s northern region could be cut off as a result of the fighting.

Gang violence in the Martissant community in southern Port-au-Prince already has cut off access to the country’s southern region, which is trying to recover from last year’s deadly earthquake.

The Martissant violence displaced thousands of families last year that have spent months in overcrowded, unhygienic government shelters in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. It was not immediately clear where the newly displaced families would be staying.

The Civil Protection Agency blamed this week’s violence on a fight between the Chen Mechan gang and the rival 400 Mawozo gang, which was involved in the kidnapping of 17 US missionaries last year.

Haiti’s ombudsman-like Citizen Protection Office released a statement condemning the violence. It criticised political leaders, saying their inaction and silence has brought “a form of cynicism or contempt for human rights, particular the right to life and security”.

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