Haiti: MSF withdraws from poor Port-au-Prince neighborhood ravaged by gang violence

Published on : 08/03/2021 – 08:18

After the police and thousands of residents, it is the turn of the NGO Médecins sans frontières (MSF) to announce, Monday, August 2, its withdrawal from the popular district of Martissant in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

In this poor neighborhood under the thumb of gangs for several years, violence has intensified for two months with the increase in clashes between armed groups for the control of this area of ​​the Haitian capital.

MSF’s withdrawal follows that of the police who had already abandoned the neighborhood police station in the face of gang violence, while several thousand residents had to flee their homes and banks and businesses were looted by armed groups.

Doctors Without Borders had initially suspended its activities in Martissant a month ago, after being the target of a gang attack.

“Unable to have a guarantee of safety for its” staff “and its patients, and wanting to draw attention to the unbearable situation in Martissant, MSF is therefore obliged to put the keys under the door after 15 years of presence in the zone “, affirms the NGO in a press release.

MSF wants to relocate its emergency center to Port-au-Prince

MSF specifies that it did not have time to remove its logos from the building, and thus declines “any responsibility for what could happen in the old buildings of the Emergency Center”.

“Always determined to continue to support the Haitian population in general and the most disadvantaged in particular, MSF is continuing discussions in order to be able to relocate its emergency center in the metropolitan area of ​​Port-au-Prince”, continues the organization. which has 30 years of continuous presence in Haiti.

“MSF’s activities in Martissant targeted, just in the immediate vicinity of the center, a population of around 300,000 people. The care provided concerned the management of traumas, medical emergencies, gyneco-obstetrics,” said the press release. . The center had been open since 2006 and the oldest to date.

“MSF continues to ask armed actors in Haiti to respect the safety of health personnel, patients, equipment and medical structures; vehicles and ambulances must also be able to circulate in complete safety,” the NGO concludes.

The new Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, who took power after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, has pledged to restore peace and security.

About two weeks after taking office, the security situation remains precarious in the country, plagued by violence for several years.

With AFP