Ralph Teddy Errol/Reuters/File
A man walks past a fire-ravaged barricade during Haiti's state of emergency in Port-au-Prince on March 6, 2024.
CNN
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Intruders broke into a major port terminal on Thursday amid escalating violence in the country after Haiti's government extended a state of emergency.
The Haitian government has announced that it will extend the state of emergency in the country's western region and the capital, Port-au-Prince, until April 3. The curfew has been extended until March 10th.
The attack came after the Caribbean Port Services (CPS) terminal in Port-au-Prince, which is a key part of Haiti's food import supply chain, was breached at around 8 a.m., two security officials said. told CNN. Officials said the intruders went to a gated warehouse area of the terminal where many containers were stored.
Video from the port on Thursday showed hundreds of people on the streets surrounding the facility and dozens who appeared to have entered a gated warehouse. CPS did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
Officials say disruption at the port continues.
Port-au-Prince has been under a wave of highly organized gang attacks on law enforcement and state institutions, with one of the gang's leaders, Jimmy Chéridier, accusing him of trying to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry's government. expressed.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that militants had burnt down police stations and freed thousands of prisoners from two prisons, and Prime Minister Chéridier warned that if he did not resign, “a civil war would end in genocide”. ” warned.
The unrest has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in the past few days, adding to the more than 300,000 already displaced by gang violence.
Distribution of essential goods by aid organizations has also been affected. The World Food Program has suspended its Port-au-Prince maritime transport service distributing aid throughout Haiti due to the instability.
Oderin Joseph/AP
A police officer at a police station set on fire by an armed group in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 5, 2024.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Thursday that 20 aid trucks loaded with food, medical supplies and equipment were stuck at the Port-au-Prince port.
UN Secretary-General and OCHA Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said sea routes are the only way to transport aid from Port-au-Prince to other parts of the country, especially food and medicine for humanitarian and development organizations. said.
Haiti's health system is “nearly collapsed” and many health centers have been forced to cut back due to violence and lack of staff and medicine, Dujarric said.
Only one public hospital remains operational in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, and emergency services have been severely hampered, the country's civil protection official said.
Lape University Hospital has received about 70 patients with gunshot wounds since last weekend, and several medical centers in the country have been burnt down in the past day, officials said.
Doctors in Haiti are desperately seeking help amid a lack of oxygen and water.
“We can't get oxygen, we can't get water, we can't get it to the hospitals because the pumps that bring water to people have stopped,” Ronald Laroche, a doctor who runs a network of private hospitals, told CNN. Ta. “Most hospitals in the center of the capital have closed their doors.”
Mr. Laroche runs a network of more than 20 medical centers across Haiti, two of which were destroyed by the gang, he said. “They (the gangs) turned it into their general residence. Seven medical centers also had to close their doors to prevent the kidnapping of employees.”
Haiti's Civil Protection Agency told CNN it has been “unable to” collect information on civilian injuries and deaths since this latest wave of violence.
The United States has called on Prime Minister Henry to pave the way for Haiti's political transition, with Haitian officials saying the transition will begin with the initial appointment of a three-member transition council that will select an interim president to lead the country. states that it may be constructed.
The unelected leader seized power in 2021 with the support of the United States, Canada and other key allies after the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse. The Prime Minister promised to hold an election in 2023, but the election did not materialize, with Henry's government citing the country's security insecurity as a major obstacle.
Henry is having difficulty returning to the country this week. His plane was diverted to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico after the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, refused to allow him to land.
Henry was in Kenya to sign an agreement for a Kenya-led multinational mission to restore security to the Caribbean country when violence erupted last Friday.
Neighboring countries are securing their borders following the outbreak of violence. A naval blockade has been established in the southeastern Bahamas amid fears of mass migration from Haiti, Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) Brigadier General Raymond King said at a press conference on Thursday.
King said officials are particularly concerned that the escapees will try to flee Haiti by boat.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
