PRINCE PORT.- Haitian authorities announced the recovery of control of the State University Hospital of Haitiknown as the Port-au-Prince General Hospital, after months of attacks and occupation by armed groups.
The Haitian police chief, Normil Rameaureported at a press conference that the police intervention took place on Sunday evening. Rameau, accompanied by the Kenyan officer Godfrey Otungehighlighted the collaboration with the Kenyan police contingent, supported by the UN, which will work closely with Haitian authorities and international partners in rebuilding the health system.
“Police took control of the hospital, ensuring that the criminals were arrested and neutralised,” Rameau said, without taking questions from the media. The recovery of the hospital is a relief for the country, where gang violence has brought medical institutions to the brink of collapse and left essential resources severely lacking.
The capital, Port-au-Prince, has been the scene of an alarming rise in violence by gangs, which control about 80 percent of the city. These groups have looted, burned and destroyed medical institutions, pharmacies, police stations and even the main international airport, which has been closed for almost three months. They have also stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons.
Violence and chaos have displaced nearly 580,000 people since March, according to a report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The humanitarian situation is worsening by the day, while authorities and international organizations are looking for solutions to stabilize the country and restore normality.
Political violence
Haiti has been without a president since early July 2021, when a group of armed men stormed the official residence to assassinate Jovenel Moïse. Shortly after, Ariel Henry rose to the post of prime minister amid criticism and after several years of instability. In March of this year, he resigned following the wave of violence that shook the Caribbean nation.
Since then, a Haitian Transitional Presidential Council has been established, led by Edgard Leblanc, who was the highest representative of the Haitian Senate between 1995 and 2000. It has chosen former Prime Minister Garry Conille (2011-2012) as the new head of the transitional government. The aim is to temporarily fill the political vacuum in a phase that should conclude with the holding of elections in 2026, a decade after the last elections.
Source: With information from AP and Europa Press