2 yıl önce

Rival gangs in 'battlefield' Haiti suburb kill dozens

"At least 89 people were killed and 16 others are missing," says a human rights group, while aid agencies report seeing burned and rotting corpses in impoverished suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince.

AP

Soaring prices, food and fuel shortages and rampant gang violence are accelerating a brutal downward spiral in the security situation in the Haitian capital.

A week of clashes between rival gangs in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince has left at least 89 people dead, a human rights group said.

"At least 89 people were killed and 16 others are missing," the National Human Rights Defense Network said in a statement on Wednesday.

The violence erupted on July 7 between two rival factions in an impoverished and densely populated suburb of Port-au-Prince.

The fresh violence, coupled with soaring food prices and fuel shortages all add to a brutal downward spiral in the security situation in the city.

'It's a real battlefield'
International humanitarian organisations have struggled to deliver crucial food supplies to the affected areas as well as to provide medical care to the victims.

Mumuza Muhindo, head of the local mission of Doctors Without Borders, on Wednesday urged all combatants to allow medics to safely access Brooklyn, an area of Cite Soleil most affected by the violence.

Muhindo said his colleagues have seen burned and rotting corpses along a road leading to that neighborhood.

"It's a real battlefield," Muhindo said. "It's impossible to estimate how many people have been killed."

Spiking violence

Gang violence has spiked since president Jovenel Moise was assassinated a year ago in a night-time raid, creating a political vacuum and leading criminal groups to expand their control of the country's territory.

Rights activists in May said that clashes between the rival Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo gangs had left 148 people dead, some of whom were hacked to death with machetes or died when their homes were set on fire.

Haiti on Thursday commemorated the anniversary of Moise's murder as the country's judicial authorities have yet to charge anyone in the brazen assassination.

Kidnappings have increased since then and much of the country is now governed by gangs.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies