Baghdad-INA
The UN Security Council expressed its concern about the deteriorating situation in Haiti, which is witnessing violence, while Washington intensified its pressure on Ariel Henry, the Prime Minister of the Caribbean country, to secure a political settlement.
Armed gangs controlling large swaths of the country launched a coordinated effort to overthrow Henry last week, attacking the airport, prisons and police stations and threatening full-scale civil war.
Ecuador, a member of the Security Council, whose Ambassador to the United Nations, Jose Javier de la Gasca, called for a meeting on Wednesday regarding the crisis in Haiti, said that “the situation is dangerous.”
The United States called on the Prime Minister to “accelerate” the political transition process in the country and organize elections, without urging him to resign, which is a major demand of the influential gang leader, Jimmy Chérezé, nicknamed “Barbecue.”
Henry has been in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021, and was scheduled to leave office in February, but instead agreed to a power-sharing agreement with the opposition until new elections are held.
Chérizier warned on Tuesday that the current chaos would lead to civil war and bloodbath unless the prime minister resigned.
At least 15,000 people have fled the worst-affected parts of Port-au-Prince, while UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk warned on Wednesday that the situation was “no longer tolerable” with 1,193 people killed across the country this year as a result of gang violence.
Malta’s UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said that every council member state “shares the same concerns, and the security situation is clearly worrying, (including) the guerrilla warfare that we are witnessing.”
In light of the recent unrest, Henry could no longer return to his country.
Henry was on a visit to Kenya to request the deployment of a multinational police mission supported by the United Nations to help restore stability in his country when the attempt to overthrow him began.
The Ecuadorian ambassador added that “the situation requires” the deployment of a mission as quickly as possible.
2024-03-10 21:43:05