At least 70 people, including three infants, were killed by members of the Gran Grif gang in a brutal attack on Pont-Sonde, a town in Haiti’s Artibonite department, according to the United Nations. The attackers, armed with automatic rifles, stormed the area early Thursday, leaving a trail of devastation, said Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN’s Human Rights Office, according to a report by Reuters.
“We are horrified by Thursday’s gang attacks in Pont-Sonde,” Al-Kheetan said in a statement. Alongside the fatalities, at least 16 people were severely injured, including two gang members wounded in a gunfight with Haitian police. The gang also set fire to 45 homes and 34 vehicles, forcing many residents to flee.
“This heinous crime against defenseless women, men, and children is an assault not only on the victims but on the entire Haitian nation,” Prime Minister Garry Conille expressed on X (formerly Twitter), adding that security forces, with international support, are bolstering their intervention efforts.
Aujourd’hui, une fois de plus, une fois de trop, nous faisons face à la lâcheté la plus absolue. Une attaque brutale, sans raison, a frappé des citoyens innocents à Pont Sondé. Ce crime odieux, perpétré contre des femmes, des hommes, et des enfants sans défense, n’est pas…
— Garry Conille (@ConilleGarry) October 4, 2024
In an audio message posted on social media, Gran Grif leader Luckson Elan, who was sanctioned by the UN last month, deflected responsibility for the massacre, instead blaming the residents of Pont-Sonde and the government. “What happened is the state’s fault, and the residents are complicit for standing by while my soldiers were killed,” Elan stated.
Local reports indicate that thousands of people have fled Pont-Sonde, many heading towards the nearby coastal town of Saint-Marc. This area is a key rice-producing region and an essential route linking the capital, Port-au-Prince, to the north of the country. Violence in Artibonite has exacerbated the already dire food insecurity crisis, with half of the population facing severe hunger and thousands in the capital enduring famine-like conditions.
Gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, representing an alliance of armed groups, suggested in a video that the attacks were part of an effort to cripple food supplies from Artibonite to the rest of the country.
The humanitarian crisis in Haiti continues to worsen. Over 700,000 people have been displaced by the ongoing conflict, nearly double the figure from six months ago.
Despite a partial deployment of a UN-backed mission aimed at assisting Haitian police, the resources provided remain far below what was promised. Haiti’s government has called for the mission to be expanded into a formal UN peacekeeping operation, but this proposal was blocked by Russia and China in the UN Security Council.
The UN reports that since January, over 3,661 people have been killed in the ongoing violence—an average of 13 deaths per day.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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