Haitian National police SWAT unit and Kenyan Police rush trough a steep hill to board an armoured vehicle after one of the vehicles broke down on a steep hill while patrolling through a neighborhood, after the arrival of the first contingent of Kenyan police as part of a peacekeeping mission, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti June 28, 2024.
The US government has issued an advisory to its citizens against travelling to Haiti, where gangs have stepped up warfare.
The US Embassy in Haiti said in a statement that it had also restricted its operations until further notice.
“All appointments for visas and American Citizen Services are cancelled until further notice,” the embassy said in a statement.
It said that the situation in Haiti remains unpredictable and dangerous, and that travel within Haiti is risky.
The US government said it could not guarantee the safety of anyone travelling within Haiti.
The US is the major sponsor of a Kenyan-led international peacekeeping mission – the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission – in the Caribbean nation.
The advisory comes barely a week after two of Haiti's most feared gang leaders – Mr Jimmy Cherizier aka Barbecue and Jeff Gwo Lwa – issued threats, asking people to stay indoors as a series of attacks would take place in different parts of the country.
In a video that has gone viral on social media, Barbecue made it clear that the gangs have been observing the actions of the officers who are out to restore peace, and it is time to take action against them.
“The time for observation [of the situation] by the gangs of ‘Vivre Ensemble’ is over. The time has come to take the destiny of this country into our own hands,” he says in the video.
Jeff Gwo, the a leader of a gang operating in the Canaan area of the northern part of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, also asked people to stay at home to avoid being affected.
“To the population of the North, the Central Plateau, the Artibonite and the West starting this Monday [November 11, 2024], I ask everyone not to return to Port-au-Prince, the roads will be impassable,” he said.
The statements by the two gang leaders came as a power struggle was brewing over who is the legitimate interim prime minister.
A new interim prime minister, identified as Alix Didier Fils Aime, has already been sworn in to replace Dr Garry Conille.
During the swearing-in ceremony, the new Prime Minister said that his first step would be to restore security throughout Haiti.
“I pledge in front of you, members of the presidential council and the entire nation, to put my energy, my skills and my patriotism at the service of the national cause,” Fils-Aime said in French.
For his part, Dr Conille says that no one has the power to remove him from office.
According to Conille, the only person who has the power to remove him from office is the President of Haiti. The Caribbean nation does not currently have a sitting president.
Haiti has not held elections since 2016, and has been without a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021.
A total of 400 Kenyan police officers are already in Haiti to help restore peace.
President William Ruto said in October that another 600 officers would be sent to the Caribbean nation.
The 600 officers undergoing training were drawn from the General Service Unit (GSU), Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU), Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) and the all-female Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWATT).
Apart from Kenya, other countries that have sent officers to Haiti include Jamaica and the Bahamas.
A week ago, two American planes were attacked while flying over Haitian airspace.
During the attack at Toussaint Louverture International Airport, one plane, a Spirit Airlines flight, was hit by a series of bullets as it attempted to land in Port-au-Prince. The second plane, a JetBlue flight to New York, was hit after take-off.
When JetBlue landed at John. F. Kennedy International Airport, the crew was shocked to discover that the exterior of the aircraft had been struck by a bullet.
“We are actively investigating this incident in collaboration with relevant authorities,” said JetBlue in a statement, adding that it had suspended flights to the Haiti.
The Spirit Airlines flight was forced to land in Santiago, a town in the north of the Dominican Republic. One flight attendant was injured in the attack.
Photographs obtained by our sources show that the plane was hit by several bullets. The company has also announced that it has cancelled all travel to any part of Haiti following the incident.
It is worth noting that officers in the MSS mission have been demolishing structures around the airport which they believe were hiding places for the gang members.
