Haiti’s main airport closes as gang violence escalates and a new prime minister is sworn in

Updated: 5 minutes ago Publication date: 5 minutes ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s international airport closed Monday after gangs opened fire on a commercial plane landing in Port-Au-Prince, prompting some airlines to temporarily suspend operations as the country swore in a new interim prime minister. to restore peace.

The Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-Au-Prince was just a few hundred meters away from landing in the Haitian capital when gangs opened fire on the plane, attacking a flight attendant who was slightly injured, according to the US carrier. Embassy and flight tracking data. The plane was diverted and landed in the Dominican Republic.

Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes in the interior of a plane.

The shooting appeared to be part of “gang-led efforts to disrupt travel to and from Port-au-Prince, which could include armed violence and disruptions to roads, ports, and airports,” according to the U.S. Embassy. Spirit and American Airlines suspended flights to Haiti, while American Airlines said it would suspend flights to the capital through Thursday “due to civil unrest.”

Clashes broke out between gangs and police in other parts of Haiti’s capital. Gunshots echoed through the streets as heavily armed police officers took cover behind walls and civilians ran in fear. In other upper-class areas, gangs are setting houses on fire. As panic spread in many regions, schools were closed.

The turmoil came a day after a council aimed at restoring democratic order in the Caribbean nation fired interim prime minister Garry Conille and replaced him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The council has experienced infighting and three members were recently accused of corruption.

While taking the oath, Fils-Aimé said his top priorities were to restore peace in the crisis-hit country and organize elections in Haiti, which have not been held since 2016.

“There’s a lot to do to bring back hope,” he said before a room of suit-clad diplomats and security guards. “I’m very sorry for the people who were victimized and had to give up everything they had.”

The country has endured weeks of political chaos and observers have warned it could lead to even more violence in a place where bloodshed has become the new normal. Gangs in the country have long been taking advantage of political turmoil to gain power, closing airports and shipping ports and stirring up chaos.

The United Nations estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince, while a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police is leading to calls for a UN peacekeeping mission to quell gang violence struggles due to a lack of funding and personnel.

Louis-Henri Mars, executive director of Lakou Lapè, an organization that works to build peace in violent areas of Haiti, said the political struggle “allows the gangs to have more freedom to attack more neighborhoods in the city and expand their control over the Port.” au-Prince. He fears civilians will suffer the consequences.

“There will be more loss of life, more internal displacement and more hunger in a country where half the population is on the brink of starvation,” he said.

The transitional council was established in April and is tasked with choosing Haiti’s next prime minister and Cabinet in the hope that it will help quell the violence that erupted after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

The aim of the council was to pave the way for democratic elections. Gangs took advantage of this power vacuum to seize power of their own.

But the council is plagued by politics and infighting and has long been at loggerheads with interim prime minister Garry Conille, whom they personally elected six months ago and fired yesterday.

Organizations including the Organization of American States tried and failed last week to mediate the disputes in a bid to save the fragile transition.

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Associated Press reporter David Koenig in Dallas and Pierre-Richard Luxama in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.