Haiti's capital under gang attacks ahead of government transition

22/4/2024 11:54

        Armed gangs launched fresh attacks on parts of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince ahead of the installation of a transitional council set to usher in a new government, local media said on Sunday, reporting arson and heavy gunfire in the city centre.
        
        The Lower Delmas area is turning into "a battlefield between police and armed gangs," Radio Tele Galaxie said on X, saying loud blasts were heard as far as the neighborhood's city hall, as well as automatic gunfire near the National Palace.
        
        Two voice recordings circulated on social media which users attributed to gang leader Jimmy "Barbeque" Cherizier apparently ordering his soldiers to burn houses down in Lower Delmas, an impoverished part of the capital where he grew up.
        
        "Continue burning the houses. Make everybody leave," a man says in the first audio recording. In another, he says he has sent jugs of gasoline: "No need to know which house. Burn every house you find. Set the fire," he says.
        
        Reuters was unable to verify the recording, but a resident from the area told Reuters she had seen houses on fire.