The medical organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) will suspend operations in the capital of Haiti after its staff were threatened by members of the police.
Amid growing violence in the country, including a deadly attack on one of MSF’s ambulances last week, the aid said it would suspend health services in Port-au-Prince “until further notice”.
Last Wednesday, police and guards repeatedly stopped MSF vehicles in the city and threatened to rape and kill health workers, the group said.
MSF said the police diverted one ambulance to the hospital, where “law enforcement officers and members of the security team surrounded the ambulance, slashed the tires, and MSF workers dug tears into the vehicle to get it out”.
Three injured patients were taken away and at least two were killed, Love said.
MSF is one of the few international aid groups still providing services in Haiti, which has been plunged into crisis since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise at home in 2021.
A police officer patrols the Petion-Ville area amid fierce clashes – GETTY IMAGES
Thousands and thousands of Haitians were killed in clashes between gangs, security forces, police and guards.
“We are used to working in extremely insecure conditions in Haiti and elsewhere, but if the law becomes a direct threat, we have no other choice but to suspend our programs,” MSF’s Haiti director Christophe Garnier said.
A spokesman for the Haitian national police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MSF, which has a large presence in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, is one of the largest providers of free healthcare in the Caribbean country and operates essential services such as a trauma center and burn clinic.
The United Nations estimated last month that only 24 percent of Port-au-Prince’s urban areas remain open, while those outside the capital face an influx of displaced people, hampering their ability to provide essential aid.
The humanitarian crisis has worsened with the closure of many hospitals and clinics due to the growing violence.
More than 700,000 people have been internally displaced, which has exacerbated the food shortage that has seen another 6,000 starving.
Citizens take up arms against gangs
Fighting has intensified in recent weeks as armed gangs try to take control of the capital.
On Tuesday, more than a dozen suspected gang members were killed after residents joined police in an attempted nighttime attack in the affluent hilltop suburb of Port-au-Prince.
Residents of Petion-Ville blocked the streets as they gathered, some with knives and hammers in hand, to protect the district from further violence.
Haitians caught up in the violence were forced to pack up and leave – REUTERS
Reuters
Local newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported “bwa kale” in several parts of the capital, referring to a vigilante movement that began in April last year when residents beat and set fire to suspected gang members without the police.
Reuters reported at least 25 bodies in the communities of Delmas, Canape Vert and Petion-Ville, where residents burned the bodies of suspected criminals with burning tires.
The Haitian government since 2022 has been calling for international support to help its police fight against gangs, which are accused of a lot of sexual violence, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, child labor and blocking the flow of important goods.
The UN Security Council approved the support mission last October but has so far delivered only a fraction of the promised staff. Haitian leaders have suggested that it be turned into a peacekeeping mission to earn more money.
The Security Council is meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the escalating violence.
The United States has banned all civilian flights to Haiti for a month after three planes arriving and departing from Port-au-Prince were shot down.
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