[
A few month in the past, I wrote this right here at TGP “The present scenario in Haiti defies our capability for exaggeration. (…) MSM headlines have tried to explain this by saying that Haiti 'may collapse at any time,' 'is on the brink,' 'transferring in direction of anarchy,' and additional stating that 'A significant humanitarian disaster is looming'.
Now, this sentiment is echoed by sources on the bottom, says the highest UN professional on human rights in Haiti 'To be sincere, I'm perplexed proper now… It's apocalyptic, it's like the top of instances.'
William O'Neill is an American human rights lawyer with 30 years of expertise in Haiti.
They are saying the gang revolt that started in early March has worsened the scenario within the capital, Port-au-Prince, to unprecedented ranges.
O'Neill warns Haiti is quickly transferring in direction of turning into 'Like Somalia at its worst'.
The Guardian reported:
''I do know a person who misplaced half his household in (former dictator) François Duvalier's execution squad and he mentioned he'd by no means seen something so unhealthy. Uncles, cousins, brothers have been killed – and he mentioned it's by no means been this unhealthy', O'Neill mentioned from Geneva.
'I'm frankly perplexed in the intervening time… it's apocalyptic, it's like the top of instances,' mentioned the UN unbiased professional who helped set it up. Haitian police drive combating lack of sources Which is now struggling to stem the tide of the mid-Nineties. 'The violence has a stage of depth and brutality that’s unprecedented in my expertise in Haiti.'
We're overlaying the rising disaster that has turned Haiti right into a 'jail island', with the worldwide airport closed since early March because of violence and the evacuation of foreigners by helicopter.
Learn: US deploys Marines to US Embassy in Haiti – Non-essential personnel evacuated amid chaos in capital Port-au-Prince
Closely armed gangly rebels have reportedly attacked colleges, universities, hospitals, banks, companies and the political heart of the Haitian capital.
Even the Nationwide Library was looted.
Learn: Haiti Hell: Jimmy Barbecue Charizard needs to affix political talks – Insurgent gangs management 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince
Greater than 1,500 individuals have been killed within the first three months of 2024 as political leaders queue for a spot within the 'transition council'.
READ: Haiti hell: Political elites set to type unelected 'transition council' whereas police and militia launch 'beheading assaults' to kill insurgent gang leaders
“O'Neill is not any stranger to difficult safety conditions, having labored in hotspots together with Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Bosnia, Nepal and South Sudan. However he expressed shock on the nearly full inaction of Haitian authorities within the face of the gang revolt that started on February 29, forcing Prime Minister Ariel Henry to announce his resignation from overseas. Haiti final held elections in 2016 and has been with no president since 2021, when Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his Port-au-Prince residence. Haiti at the moment has no elected officers.
'Right here, I believe what's totally different is that the state is just about absent… there isn’t a state and it's nearly like a Hobbesian world the place it's actually survival of the fittest… and sadly in the intervening time gangs of the fittest ', mentioned O'Neill, who thought solely a small miracle was serving to Haiti's unarmed police forestall a whole takeover.
O'Neill fears the turmoil may quickly result in a mass exodus of refugees into the US and the Dominican Republic, a nightmare state of affairs 'a couple of weeks at worst (and some months away at finest). '
“It's actually descending now into one thing that’s like Somalia at its worst, a 90-minute flight from Miami. We aren’t there but. However we're dangerously shut.”
Learn extra:
Haiti hellfire: Heavy gun battle close to Nationwide Palace – Unelected transition council stumbles over authorized hurdles – Canada coaching Caribbean troops for deployment