A British humanitarian worker, among many other foreign nationals stuck in Haiti due to a rebellious uprising against the government, expressed feelings of terror and confusion while being trapped in a city under attack.
Matt Knight, the director for the Irish humanitarian aid agency Goal Global in Haiti, flew into its capital, Port-au-Prince, from Europe three days before the uprising against Prime Minister Ariel Henry began on 29 February.
“I was in Ukraine for six months when Kyiv was under bombing, and this is even more severe,” said the 55-year-old resident of Sheffield on Monday morning, following yet another night where he was awoken by the noise of semi-automatic gunfire.
Knight stated that they are unable to sleep due to the ongoing shooting. They are constantly listening to it and their mind is unable to shut off. The shootouts are between security forces and gangs attempting to invade the international airport.
“The sound is like a series of ‘pop-pop-pop-pop’ followed by an explosion, and then another series of ‘pop-pop-pah, pop-pop-pah.’ It lasted for approximately thirty minutes last night, and on some nights it can go on for even longer. This happens almost every day,” stated Knight, whose group has had to halt its work in Carrefour, a destitute area near the Haitian city center.
Every day, a non-governmental organization’s WhatsApp group receives numerous warnings and video evidence of the most recent attacks. The British humanitarian, who expressed feeling puzzled by the violence, acknowledged that it can be incredibly calculated and shockingly random.
According to Knight, it appears that there may be a plan in place. It seems that the Haitian gang leader, Barbecue, has united the gangs under the banner of ‘Viv Ansanm’ with a common goal of preventing President Ariel Henry from returning to the country. This includes shutting down the airport and launching attacks on the police and government infrastructure until Henry steps down.
However, a significant amount of the chaos appeared to be caused by unpredictable and dangerously armed young men who lacked any discernible political agenda. Knight, a veteran humanitarian worker who was present during the 2014-2015 Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, the 2021 coup in Sudan, and last year’s events in Ukraine, observed that there were instances of looting, plundering, and displacement of residents from their communities.
During the day in Kyiv, it was possible to take a stroll… The current situation here, however, is much less regulated and the level of fear is heightened due to its seemingly unpredictable nature… On Monday, as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed for Jamaica to participate in a gathering of Caribbean leaders addressing the concerning political and security crisis in Haiti, he expressed the highest level of fear he has experienced due to the element of randomness.
Knight, a former Public Health England employee, recognized he was in a far better situation than the 300,000-plus internally displaced people his organization was in Haiti to help. “However scary it is for me, it’s not nearly as scary as it is for a four-year-old kid who is having to run from their neighbourhood, grabbing whatever you can carry and hearing gunshots raining over your head.”
The UN issued a warning last week that Haiti’s already weak healthcare system is on the verge of collapsing. According to the medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières, their trauma unit in Port-au-Prince has been struggling to keep up with the increasing number of patients with gunshot wounds. As the gang violence continues, it is estimated that 15,000 Haitians have been displaced from their homes. Prior to this crisis, around 50% of Haiti’s population of 11.7 million were already experiencing severe hunger.
“Knight, whose three grown children have encouraged him to come back home, believes that these individuals are the ones that the world should pay attention to.”
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, promised to donate an extra $100 million to a UN-supported international security team aimed at supporting Haitian law enforcement in combating gangs. Additionally, the US will provide $33 million in humanitarian assistance, making the total US contribution to the force $300 million.
Currently, Knight is unable to leave the airport, which is under attack by armed gangs. The US military is said to be evacuating non-essential embassy staff by helicopter, but there has been no offer of evacuation for aid workers.
Knight stated that he had contacted the British embassy in the Dominican Republic, which is the closest embassy to Haiti. However, he was informed that the officials were unable to assist as the foreign office’s current recommendation is to refrain from any travel to Haiti due to the unstable security conditions.
Currently, there is no means of entering or exiting Haiti. The border to the Dominican Republic has been completely sealed off. Even if one were able to access areas where boats could be launched, the boat routes are not secure. We are facing a state of being unable to move.
Source: theguardian.com
