According to the United Nations, 207 people were killed in a slum area of the capital Port-au-Prince earlier this month.
The United Nations has increased the death toll from a recent mass killing in Haiti, saying its investigation found it to be 207 people killed by a gangincluding dozens of elderly people and Vodou religious leaders.
In a report released on Monday, the UN office in Haiti details the events that took place in Haiti between December 6th and 11th Wharf Jeremie neighborhood of Cite Soleil, a slum on the coast of the capital Port-au-Prince.
The gang took people from their homes and a place of worship, interrogated them and then “executed” them with bullets and machetes before burning their bodies and throwing them into the sea, the report said.
Earlier this month, human rights groups in Haiti estimated that more than 100 people were killed In this case, however, the new UN investigation concluded that a total of 134 men and 73 women were slaughtered.
“We cannot pretend that nothing happened,” said María Isabel Salvador, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative in Haiti.
“I call on the Haitian justice system to thoroughly investigate these terrible crimes and to arrest and punish the perpetrators and those who support them,” she said in a statement.
The Haitian government acknowledged the killing of elderly people in a statement released earlier this month and vowed to prosecute those responsible for this act of “unspeakable carnage.”
The U.N. Security Council issued a statement Monday condemning recent gang killings and expressing “deep concern” about the crisis in Haiti, highlighting food insecurity Recruitment of children by gangs.
Insecurity and isolation
The insecurity in Haiti has worsened to the point where… The UN recently ordered this Some of its employees have to leave the country or relocate from the capital to safer areas.
The country is increasingly isolated after Port-au-Prince International Airport was closed to commercial passengers Planes are hit by gunfire.
The United Nations is currently debating what steps to take in Haiti after an international security mission led by 400 Kenyan police officers struggled to restore law and order.
One option being considered is a return to a full-scale peacekeeping operation, despite the mixed results of previous deployments, including a “stabilization” mission, MINUSTAH, that ran from 2004 until its departure in 2017.
“King Micanor”
Human rights groups in Haiti told Wharf Jeremie Murders began after the son of Micanor Altes, a local gang leader, died of illness.
Witnesses told the groups that Altes, aka “King Micanor,” accused people in the neighborhood of causing his son’s illness by casting an evil spell on him.
In Monday’s report, the United Nations said people from Altes’ gang were tracked down in their homes and at a place of worship, where they were first interrogated and then taken to a location where they were to be killed.
The killings are the latest humanitarian tragedy in Haiti, where gang violence has increased since the assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moise a coup attempt in 2021.
The Caribbean state is currently governed by a transitional council made up of representatives from business, civil society and political parties. However, the government has no control over many areas of the capital and gangs are constantly fighting over ports, highways and neighborhoods.
More than 5,358 people have been killed and another 2,155 injured in Haiti’s gang wars this year, according to the United Nations. Since the beginning of 2022, more than 17,000 people have been killed or injured by gang violence in Haiti.
