- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.2% | 24.65 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
AZN | -0.16% | 77.35 | $ | |
BCC | 0.71% | 139.89 | $ | |
RIO | 0.05% | 69.735 | $ | |
GSK | 0.27% | 38.925 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.07% | 24.795 | $ | |
RELX | -0.47% | 46.075 | $ | |
NGG | -0.99% | 65.845 | $ | |
VOD | 0.4% | 9.699 | $ | |
BTI | 0.03% | 35.3 | $ | |
BCE | -0.18% | 33.65 | $ | |
JRI | -0.23% | 13.25 | $ | |
BP | 1.11% | 33.25 | $ |
Dozens killed as wave of gang violence roils Haitian capital
Jackson held out for more than a week as gunfire ripped through his poor neighborhood in the Haitian capital, hoping help would come to end the bloody turf war between rival gangs.
"For eight days, the bursts of bullets flew non-stop but we thought that the police were going to intervene," he said.
But the police never showed. So like thousands of others, 29-year-old Jackson -- taking nothing but the clothes he was wearing -- fled his home.
The United Nations said Friday that clashes between rival gangs in the downtrodden slums of northern Port-au-Prince have claimed the lives of at least 75 people, including women and children, since all-out war started on April 24.
The world body said it was "deeply concerned by the rapid deterioration of the security situation" in the city.
"According to multiple sources, at least 75 people, including women and children, have been killed and 68 others injured," the UN statement said.
It added that at least 9,000 residents of the conflict-hit northern suburbs have been forced to flee their homes and take refuge with relatives or in temporary shelters such as churches and schools.
Jackson held out until last Sunday. He was just returning from church when the fighting came right to his door.
"I didn't know that the members of the '400 mawozo' gang had managed to cross the bridge" next to his home, Jackson said, referring to the most feared of all the gangs.
"Suddenly I heard neighbors yelling 'They're at Shada crossroads', which meant they were 30, 40 meters from me. I had my identity card, my driver's license and my insurance card on me. I took my passport and ran out," he said.
As he passed a nearby gas station, he saw gang members accusing the motorcycle taxi drivers who were parked there of being lookouts for a rival gang. "So they shot them," Jackson said.
- Lost education -
For decades, armed gangs have run amok in the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, but they have drastically increased their hold across the Haitian capital and the country at-large in recent years, sending murders and kidnappings skyrocketing.
The UN has denounced the "extreme violence" of the gangs, saying local sources recorded "acts of sexual violence, including the gang rape of children as young as 10 years, and the terrorization and intimidation of the local populations living in areas controlled by rival gangs."
The UN children's agency, UNICEF, has warned of the gangs' impact on children's education.
"In Haiti, 500,000 children have lost access to education due to gang-related violence," it said on Friday. "Nearly 1,700 schools are currently closed in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince."
"No child can go to school while bullets are flying in the air, it's dangerous and it shouldn't be like this," said Bruno Maes, the UNICEF representative to Haiti.
The UN office in Haiti has also expressed concern over children being recruited into the armed gangs.
The Haitian government has not yet commented on the latest outbreak of violence which has placed the capital in a state of siege, preventing any safe exit by road to the rest of the country.
Last October, the powerful "400 Mawozo" gang abducted a group of 17 North American missionaries and their relatives, including five children.
The district where the violence has been centered is highly strategic: it contains the only road access to the country's north as well as between Haiti's capital and the Dominican Republic.
Since June, authorities have also lost control of the only road connecting Port-au-Prince to the south. For a stretch of two kilometers (1.2 miles), the highway is completely under the control of armed criminals from the slums of Martissant.
Gangs in Martissant have also forced Doctors Without Borders, an international medical nonprofit, to close a hospital it had been running there for 15 years.
F.Dubois--AMWN