With armed groups controlling most of Haiti’s capital following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry this week, residents are increasingly desperate for food and calm as widespread looting and street battles engulf the nation.
Roughly 1.4 million people in Haiti are on the verge of famine, aid groups say, and more than 15,000 people have been left homeless amid the recent maelstrom of violence.
The powerful gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier, who rules large portions of the capital Port-au-Prince and heads the the “G9” gang alliance, meanwhile continues to refuse to deal with political leaders who want to put forth candidates for a transitional governing council and plan elections.
“It’s not just people with guns who’ve damaged the country but the politicians too,” Cherizier told Al Jazeera.
“Now our fight will enter another phase – to overthrow the whole system,” he said. “The system that is 5 percent of people who control 95 percent of the country’s wealth.”
Henry announced on Tuesday he would step down once a temporary council is formed and his interim replacement is selected, but the gangs calling for his ouster have continued to terrorize the poverty-stricken island.
The armed groups have closed off distribution routes and effectively shut down the country’s main port, said Jean-Martin Bauer, Haiti director for the the United Nations World Food Program. The program’s warehoused supply of grains, beans and vegetables is dwindling as the agency continues to deliver meals, he added.
“We have supplies for weeks. I’m saying weeks, not months,” Bauer said. “That has me terrified.”
On Wednesday, a shootout rocked one neighborhood while a police academy was attacked early Thursday.
“Ariel Henry resigned, but we are still in political distress,” resident Claude Atilus said.
“We must take our destiny into our own hands. I want the political players to rise to the task and commit themselves to organizing the country.”
With Post wires.