Armed groups have announced new days of terror in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area starting today, and have asked the population not to take to the streets unless necessary.
In a message published on social media on Sunday, the leader of the armed coalition known as Vivre Ensemble (Living Together), Jimmy Chérizier, known as ‘Barbecue’, stated that “the battle will begin again”, adding: “if it is not necessary , they don’t need to go out into the street.”
“The observation time is over (…) We sit and watch so that people don’t say that we were the ones who prevented the schools from opening their doors,” said ‘Barbecue’, a former police officer who became a powerful leader of the groups armed.
The coalition “has to act”, he said. “The time has come, as you are accustomed to doing, to take the destiny of this country into your own hands”, he said.
In the five-minute video, ‘Barbecue’ considered that the authorities are not looking out for the interests of the Haitian people, when referring to the conflict between the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC, its French acronym) and the prime minister, which led to the TPC to fire Garry Conille and appoint businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime.
In addition to Jimmy Chérizier, another band leader and member of the Vivre Ensemble coalition, Jeff Gwo Lwa, who heads the Canaan area, north of the capital Port-au-Prince, advised the population to stay at home and avoid risks when violence increases.
“To the population of the North, the Central Plateau, Artibonite and everywhere, especially the five departments close to me…, from Monday [today], I ask all these people not to return to Porto Alegre Prince. The roads will become impassable”, warned Jeff Gwo Lwa.
What happens to whoever is on the street is “none of the Vivre Ensemble’s business”, he added.
Despite the presence, since June, of troops from the Multinational Security Support Mission, led and supported by the UN, violence in Haiti continues unabated.
Between July and September, at least 1,223 people died and 522 were injured in Haiti due to violence and the fight against gangs, according to data from the UN Integrated Office in Haiti.
In the first half of the year, the total number of victims, including deaths and injuries, was 3,900, after around eight thousand victims were recorded in 2023.
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