Armed groups launch fresh round of attacks in Haiti, including near National Palace

A deadly alliance of armed groups continued to tighten its grip on Haiti’s capital, launching a series of coordinated and simultaneous attacks Monday around Port-au-Prince, including near the National Palace.

At least four police officers were injured during one of the attacks not far from the capital’s downtown, and were being treated at a local hospital, the Miami Herald confirmed. In a voice note circulating on the WhatsApp messaging platform, an unidentified policeman said five of them were in an armored vehicle when everyone except for him was shot. The vehicle, he said, had refused to start.

In a video on social media, an armed man wearing a ski mask could be seen commandeering the armored vehicle as he credits gang leader “Izo 5 Segonn” — Izo Five Seconds — for the attack. In another video, the armored car is shown going up in flames. A Haiti National Police spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Heavy gunfire was reported in Pernier, not far from the U.S. embassy in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, and in the capital’s downtown. Late Monday, armed gunmen had not gained access to the palace, but there were reports that they were surrounding the area and the situation remained dangerous.

A Miami Herald video of the scene showed fearful Haitians running across the Champ-de-Mars as high-powered weapons were being fired. The sprawling public square is directly across the street from the presidential palace, a target of repeated attacks by gangs seeking to take it over.

Staring on Feb. 29 gangs have targeted police stations, schools, hospitals and key government sites, including the international and domestic airports and main seaport, after successfully orchestrating a massive break of the country’s two largest prisons.

While dozens of businesses and health facilities have been looted and burned, the airport and palace have remained under police protection.

The month-long siege has forced more than 15,000 people from their homes in recent weeks, leading to more than 362,000 becoming internally displaced.

The situation remains volatile, with Haiti’s political leaders still struggling to assemble a presidential council to form a new government and get the country ready for the arrival of a multinational security mission, led by Kenya. Though the names of the council’s members were sent on Friday to outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry, members of his government and a coalition that supported him have raised issues over the legality of the panel, while members of the council themselves continue to discuss the details of a political agreement.

On Monday, as attacks were launched across Port-au-Prince, the spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed frustration over the delay in security assistance to Haiti. A U.N.-backed Multinational Security Support Mission, which was approved in October to help the Haiti National Police, remains on hold and underfunded. Estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the force has only attracted $10.8 million into a U.N. Trust Fund.

Last month Kenya announced that it had decided to hold off on sending 1,000 of its police officers to Haiti, citing the resignation of Henry and lack of political clarity. Henry was returning home from finalizing an agreement in Kenya for the mission’s deployment, but chartered plane was not allowed to land in the Dominican Republic and he was then pressured to resign by the United States and Caribbean leaders just as the violence broke out.

“We’re frustrated with the amount of time that it’s taken. We’re frustrated the lack of money that’s in the trust fund,” said Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesman. “We know a number of countries have put themselves forward to do whatever they can to help the people of Haiti, but those countries need financial and technical support.”

“The longer it takes to deploy such a force, the more the people of Haiti are suffering,” he added.

The violence has forced the closure of more than 1,000 schools across Haiti. Among forced to flee their homes over the last three years, 160,000 are in metropolitan Port-au-Prince where they are living in public spaces, school yards and other open-air shelters.

A Haiti Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, Dujarric said, continues to be severely underfunded. “Only $45 million of the $674 million required have been received —that’s less than 7%,” he told reporters in New York.

Despite the lack of funding and ongoing security challenges, U.N. partners are continuing to provide daily emergency assistance to those affected by the violence, he said. On Saturday, the World Food Program provided more than 28,000 meals to people who have been forced to flee their homes.

The program “has delivered food assistance to some 480,000 men, women and children across the country since the beginning of March,” said Dujarric. “These efforts are possible thanks to our partners on the ground.... In Port-au-Prince, the agency has distributed more than 358,000 hot meals to more than 69,000 people in 48 displacement sites in the past month.”

Humanitarian partners also have delivered more than 2.3 million liters of water to nearly 29 camp sites, which has benefited some 60,000 displaced people. Health partners have also delivered medicine and provided psycho-social support to traumatized people, including children.

“As we have mentioned, Haiti’s health sector has been severely affected by the violence over the past month, with at least half of the health facilities in the capital either closed or functioning below their normal capacity,” Dujarric said. “The ongoing insecurity in Haiti has worsened the already dire humanitarian situation.”