In Haiti, new exchanges of fire in the capital

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A woman carrying a child flees after gunshots ring out in Port-au -Prince, in Haiti, March 20, 2024.

Agence France-Presse

The Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, fell prey to violent exchanges of gunfire on Saturday as the humanitarian situation worsened and the political transition was delayed.

According to residents contacted by AFP, heavy gunfire has been ringing out in the town since dawn.

Attacks by armed bandits were reported against the base of the departmental operation and intervention brigade (BOID) in Fort National and against the motorized intervention brigade (BIM) in Clercine, in the #x27;port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 33,000 people have fled the city and its suburbs for two weeks to seek shelter from gang violence.

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Last farewell to Brian Mulroney

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Last farewell to Brian Mulroney

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Port-au-Prince woke up Friday to charred corpses in its streets after attacks by armed men and a police operation that led to the death of a gang leader, Ernst Julmé, alias Ti Grèg.

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A man pulls a cart carrying a coffin on a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 22.

The UN is very concerned about the humanitarian crisis affecting the poorest country in the Caribbean: around five million people, or almost half of the population, face high levels of food insecurity.

One ​​in two people is now hungry. The rise in hunger is fueling the security crisis ravaging the country. We need urgent action now.

A quote from Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of the World Food Program (WFP) in Haiti

Haiti, already the victim of a very serious political and security crisis, has been gripped by renewed violence since the beginning of March, when several gangs joined forces to attack strategic locations in Port-au-Prince, saying they wanted to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

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Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to resign on March 11. (Archive photo)

Highly contested, the latter was unable to return to his country after a trip to Kenya. According to corroborating sources, he is now in California after leaving Puerto Rico, American territory.

Mr. Henry agreed to resign on March 11, and since then negotiations have been underway to form transitional authorities.

However, in the meantime , armed gangs are intensifying their attacks in the capital, which they already control by around 80%.

The big American neighbor has evacuated 230 its nationals for a week and the State Department issued a warning overnight from Friday to Saturday: Do not go to Haiti.