Essential supplies looted as Haiti violence escalates
Government and aid agencies have reported that their facilities and aid supplies have been looted as Haiti once again spirals into chaos with another wave of gang violence.
Gangs have raged through Haiti in recent weeks, attacking key institutions and shutting down the main international airport. The chaos has pushed many Haitians to the brink of famine and left many more in increasingly desperate conditions.
On Sunday, Unicef said one of its containers containing “essential items for maternal, neonatal, and child survival, including resuscitators and related equipment” were looted in the capital of Port-au-Prince’s main port, which was breached by gangs last week.
“Looting of supplies that are essential for lifesaving support for children must end immediately and humanitarian access must remain safe,” Bruno Maes, Unicef representative in Haiti, said in a statement.
The aid agency said the looting and overall violence has further cut some of the country’s most vulnerable from basic supplies, coming “at a critical moment when children need them the most”.
That same day, Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry said that the offices of its honorary consul in Haiti were ransacked, but didn’t give any details of damage or thefts, nor did it say who was responsible.
The ministry said only “paperwork and documentation of the last four or five years had been previously transferred” to the Guatemala Embassy for Haiti in the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
Chaos is nothing new to Haiti. The violence has left Haiti’s Government in a state of turmoil and prompted Prime Minister Ariel Henry to pledge that he will resign, a key demand of the gangs.
The US flew in military forces to beef up security at the American Embassy.
While Haiti’s main airport in Portau-Prince remains closed following gang attacks, the US State Department said it would be offering limited charter flights for American citizens from the less chaotic northern city of CapHaitien.