US bans flights to Haiti after three jetliners hit by gunfire

 

Haitian police officers deploy in Port-au-Prince as they exchange gunfire with alleged gang members on November 11, 2024. [AFP]

The United States on Tuesday banned all civilian flights to Haiti for a month, a day after three jetliners approaching or departing from its gang-ridden capital Port-au-Prince were hit by gunfire.

The shootings provided a vivid glimpse of the violent chaos gripping Haiti as a new prime minister took the reins of a nation ravaged by poverty, chronic political instability and other woes.

The US Federal Aviation Administration's move came after a Spirit Airlines jetliner arriving from Florida in Port-au-Prince was hit by gunfire and had to reroute to the Dominican Republic.

A flight attendant suffered minor injuries, and images posted online appeared to show several bullet holes inside the plane.

Two planes that left the Haitian capital Monday were also hit, with single bullet holes detected in post-flight inspections in each case, the airlines said.

Both planes landed safely. They were a JetBlue flight to JFK Airport in New York and an American Airlines flight to Miami.

Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime was sworn in Monday, replacing outgoing premier Garry Conille, who was appointed in May but became embroiled in a power struggle with the country's unelected transitional council.

Haiti remained cut off from the rest of the world, with its main airport closed and bursts of gunfire ringing out in several neighborhoods of the capital.

Many stores and schools were shuttered as people feared more attacks by the powerful and well-armed gangs that control some 80 percent of the city, even though a Kenyan-led international force has been deployed to help the outgunned Haitian police restore order.

Violent crime in the capital city remains high, with gang members routinely targeting civilians and robberies, rapes and kidnappings are rampant.

The transitional council, aiming to put Haiti on a path to voting in 2026, had been tasked with stabilizing a country that has no president or parliament and last held elections in 2016.

The United States on Tuesday called on Haiti's leaders to put personal interests aside and concentrate on getting the country back on its feet.

"The acute and immediate needs of the Haitian people mandate that the transitional government prioritize governance over the competing personal interests of political actors," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Gangs dig in

The Caribbean nation has long struggled with political instability, poverty, natural disasters and gang violence.

But conditions sharply worsened at the end of February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in the capital, saying they wanted to overthrow then-prime minister Ariel Henry.

Despite the arrival of the Kenyan-led support mission in June, violence has continued to soar.

A recent United Nations report said more than 1,200 people were killed in Haiti from July through September, with persistent kidnappings and sexual violence against women and girls.

The report said the gangs were digging trenches, using drones and stockpiling weapons as they change tactics to confront the Kenyan-led police force.

Gang leaders have strengthened defenses for the zones they control and placed gas cylinders and Molotov cocktail bombs ready to use against police operations.