Miami [US], September 4: Haiti's struggling police force has lost nearly 800 officers in the first six months of this year, "a staggering loss" in the midst of a new escalation in violence that's forcing thousands of Haitians to abandon their homes and leading to fears that all of Port-au-Prince will be under gang control in the coming days.
The figure, 774 officers, was cited by United Nations Secretary-General AntonioGuterres in a highly anticipated report that he sent to the UN Security Council last month on how the global agency could help Haiti's US-backed national police force quell the escalating violence.
The number, the UN chief said, is "a staggering loss compared to an average attrition of around 400 police per year in the past."
While Guterres didn't offer a breakdown of the tally, other than to say the number included 77 women, he said the loss was caused by "resignations and post abandonment (with many officers leaving the country), dismissals, retirements, and fatalities in the line of duty."
The revelation comes as armed attacks against residents of several neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince continue to escalate. Residents report that heavy gunfire from automatic weapons is increasingly disturbing their sleep and sending them on a desperate flight out of their homes.
One neighbourhood, Carrefour-Feuilles, has long been coveted by armed groups because of its strategic geographical location. Located on MorneL'Hopital, a steep hill that rises above the suburbs of Port-au-Prince, Carrefour-Feuilles is less than two miles from Haiti's National Palace. A working-class community, it also lies close to Grand Ravine and TiBwa, two slum communities currently in the grips of gangs, which use them as kidnapping lairs.
With gangs already controlling about 80 percent of the capital, control of the hilltop would provide greater access to moving kidnapped victims along currently blocked roads and place the gangs within a mile's reach of the National Penitentiary, where an attempt to break the prison was thwarted by police during the recent attacks.
Source: Qatar Tribune