Zile News

Gangs in Haiti have opened fire on an armored vehicle, leaving four soldiers from El Salvador unaccounted-for in the first major attack since an international gang suppression force began operations in the violence-wracked country. The attack occurred Sunday in Croix-des-Bouquets, a once peaceful community in Port-au-Prince now controlled by violent gangs. The Armed Forces of El Salvador said in a statement Monday that the four aviation technicians were returning to camp when the armored vehicle was attacked with explosives and set on fire.

"De notre côté, comme partenaire, nous prenons nos responsabilités : l’Union européenne dispose d’un régime de mesures restrictives à l’encontre de personnes et d’entités considérées comme responsables d’actions menaçant la paix, la stabilité, ou la sécurité d’Haïti, ou portant atteinte à la démocratie et à l’État de droit. Ce régime n’est pas un instrument électoral et les sanctions européennes ne constituent pas, en elles-mêmes, des critères d’éligibilité au regard du droit haïtien. Elles consistent en revanche en une liste de personnes qui sont interdites d’entrée sur le territoire de l’Union européenne, soit dans ses 27 États membres, ainsi qu’en la possibilité degels d’avoirs. "...

Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies tiendra lundi 19 octobre une séance publique consacrée à Haïti, suivie de consultations à huis clos, avec au programme la dégradation de la situation sécuritaire, le déploiement de la Force de répression des gangs (GSF) et les incertitudes entourant l’organisation des prochaines élections. Selon Security Council Report, publié le 16 octobre, trois responsables onusiens sont susceptibles de présenter un état des lieux : Carlos Ruiz Massieu, représentant spécial du secrétaire général et chef du Bureau intégré des Nations unies en Haïti (BINUH) ; Jack Christofides, représentant spécial pour la GSF ; et Daniela Kroslak, secrétaire générale adjointe et cheffe du Bureau de soutien des Nations unies en Haïti (UNSOH), dont la participation au briefing reste possible.

Former Haitian President Michel Martelly has registered to run for the presidency of the Caribbean nation, joining a growing list of candidates hoping to lead a troubled Haiti despite facing sanctions from the United States, Canada and the European Union — or in the case of the former singer, all three. Martelly’s name was among 16 listed Friday on the Provisional Electoral Council’s website as having preliminary registered to run. The list also includes another former president, Jocelerme Privert, and a former member of the lower house of Parliament, Gary Bodeau. Privert who oversaw the country’s last general elections in 2016, has been sanctioned by Canada. Bodeau has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under a federal act that targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption, and faces Canadian sanctions as well.

Prince would not disclose the annual fee he receives for work with the Task Force, claiming only that it is a “fraction” of the cost of the short-lived Multinational Security Support mission — an initiative backed financially and logistically by the United States, that once envisaged 5,500 foreign police in Port-au-Prince. “Our cost is one-sixth of what their annual camp cost was,” Prince said. The sum is likely in the tens of millions of dollars. His income will be augmented by a deal to help control Haiti’s porous border with the Dominican Republic for the next 10 years in return for 10% of any new customs revenue collected. The long-term contract has raised criticism locally of how Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé is using his mandate as interim leader.