PONT-SONDÉ, Haiti — The loss of life toll in a brutal gang assault final week on a small city in central Haiti has risen to 115, a neighborhood official informed The Related Press on Wednesday.
The assault on residents of Pont-Sondé on Oct. 3 was one of many greatest massacres that Haiti has seen in latest historical past.
Myriam Fièvre, mayor of the close by metropolis of Saint-Marc, stated Wednesday that the toll had risen to 115 and would doubtless preserve rising as a result of authorities are nonetheless searching for our bodies and haven’t been in a position to entry sure areas of the city.
“We’re working to ensure that the inhabitants is protected,” she stated in a telephone interview.
The U.N. had beforehand stated that no less than 70 folks have been killed final week when the Gran Grif gang invaded the city within the central Artibonite area.
The victims included infants, younger moms and the aged, with the gang approaching Pont-Sondé through canoes to catch residents unexpectedly, in line with a neighborhood human rights group.
Survivors have questioned why authorities didn’t do something to cease the assault for the reason that gang had warned in a video posted on social media that it deliberate to focus on Pont-Sondé.
A day after the assault, officers changed the police commissioner who oversees the Artibonite area, which has seen a surge of gang violence in recent times, with no less than 20 prison teams working within the space, in line with the U.N.
Greater than 6,200 survivors have fled Pont-Sondé and quickly settled within the coastal metropolis of Saint-Marc and surrounding areas.
A majority of them are staying with kin, however greater than 750 others have nowhere to go and are sleeping on the flooring of a church, a college and a public plaza in Saint-Marc, in line with the U.N.’s Worldwide Group for Migration.
As Saint-Marc struggles with the sudden inflow of individuals, Fièvre warned that the Gran Grif gang is infiltrating close by communities after attacking Pont-Sondé.
Haiti’s Nationwide Human Rights Protection Community has stated the gang was offended {that a} native self-defense group was attempting to restrict gang exercise in Pont-Sondé and stop it from profiting off a makeshift highway toll it had lately established close by.
Gran Grif has about 100 members and has been accused of crimes together with homicide, rape, robberies and kidnappings. It was shaped after former legislator Prophane Victor started arming younger males practically a decade in the past to safe his election and management of the realm, in line with the U.N
Victor and the Gran Grif chief, Luckson Elan, have been sanctioned by the U.S. final month. Elan additionally was sanctioned by the U.N. Safety Council, which famous that Gran Grif “is the biggest and strongest” gang in Artibonite, committing 9 mass kidnappings from October 2023 to January 2024, together with that of 157 folks.
___
Sanon reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti
