Haiti ‘will go hungry soon’, it has been warned, as looting sparks a food shortage in the Caribbean country where out-gunned police are battling rampaging gangs.
Despite Haiti’s government on Thursday extending a state of emergency and nighttime curfew by a month to try and curb the violent gang attacks, US government officials fear that law and order could collapse within hours.
Meanwhile, Haiti’s main port was forced to close – days after thousands of inmates were broken out of two prisons, swelling ranks of gangs already enforcing their control of much of the nation – including the capital city.
Port-au-Prince has been paralysed in a fierce battle for political power, with Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier – an influential gang leader in Haiti – having warned of civil war and ‘genocide’ unless embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns.
Henry travelled to Kenya last week to negotiate a UN-backed multinational police mission to stabilise his country. However, as he attempted to fly back to Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, he was prevented from landing by gang attacks on the airport.
He landed in the US territory of Puerto Rico instead, where he is believed to remain.
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