While Haiti is still plunged into chaos, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Wednesday March 27 that it had chartered “several special flights” in order to repatriate “more than 170 French nationals.” The Quai d’Orsai specifies in a press release that it has evacuated “nearly 70 European nationals and nationals of third countries”.
These are people “in a vulnerable situation” who were transferred “on board a national navy vessel which will transport them today to Fort-de-France [in Martinique]”, specifies the ministry in its text.
On Sunday evening, the Quai d’Orsay announced the establishment of “special flights” as Haiti’s capital is plagued by gang violence and commercial air links with Port-au-Prince are interrupted. Some 1,100 French people, including a large number of dual nationals, live in Haiti, according to figures from the Quai d’Orsay.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in two weeks, more than 33,000 people fled the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince to seek shelter from attacks. They mainly headed towards the departments of the Great South, which are already welcoming 116,000 displaced people who have fled in recent months.
The United Nations (UN) has expressed alarm at the humanitarian crisis: around five million people, almost half the population, face high levels of “acute food insecurity”. “One in two people are now hungry. The rise in hunger is fueling the security crisis ravaging the country. We need urgent measures now,” warned Jean-Martin Bauer, director of the World Food Program in Haiti, on Friday.
Commercial links suspended
Haiti, already the victim of a very serious political and security crisis, has been plagued by renewed violence since the beginning of the month, with several gangs having joined forces to attack strategic locations in Port-au-Prince. Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to resign on March 11. Since then, negotiations have been underway to form transitional authorities.
The future presidential transitional council, the establishment of which was decided during an emergency meeting in Jamaica of several countries and organizations with Haitian representatives, is long overdue. This body will, among other things, be responsible for appointing an interim prime minister. Haiti currently remains without a president or Parliament: the last head of state, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in 2021. And the country has not had an election since 2016.