() — A Haitian politician has been shot dead outside his home, authorities said, as international concerns intensify over gang violence, political instability and humanitarian crises that have taken control of the country.
Eric Jean Baptiste was killed Friday night outside his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, local police told .
He was the leader of the Rally of National Progressive Democrats Party (RNDP), a minor political party in Haiti, and launched an unlikely presidential bid in 2016.
A security guard was also killed in the attack, the police spokesman said. Baptiste survived a previous attempt on his life in 2018, escaping with a gunshot wound.
This murder is the latest in a country dominated by violent gangs, and comes a year after the nation’s acting president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated. Port-au-Prince was the scene of brutal gang battles this summer that torched entire neighborhoods, displacing thousands of families and trapping others in their homes, afraid to even go out in search of food and water.
The number of Haitians displaced by recent gang-related violence in the capital has tripled in the past five months, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
The IOM report released this week says that more than 113,000 people were internally displaced from Port-au-Prince between June and August this year, with almost 90,000 of them due to “urban violence linked to conflicts between gangs, police gangs and social conflicts”. .
“Thousands of women, children and men have been forced to leave their homes in search of shelter away from violence and destruction,” said Ulrika Richardson, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Haiti.
Criminals still control or influence parts of the country’s most populous city, and kidnappings for ransom threaten the daily movements of residents. In recent weeks, protesters in several cities have called for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign in the face of high fuel prices, inflation and rampant crime.
Earlier this month, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called an “absolutely nightmarish situation” in Haiti with gangs blocking the movement of fuel and other materials in the port of Port-au-Prince. The country is facing a humanitarian crisis, while an outbreak of cholera has also left dozens dead.
Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, told on Friday that the government will call democratic elections if the international community intervenes with military assistance in the country.
“It is very important that all Haitians work together…and while we receive help from our international partners, let us make sure we prepare for free and fair democratic elections. Because it is the most important thing… that democratic institutions rise again,” said Edmond, describing Haiti as a country “on the verge of collapse”.
“Before we get to the elections, we need to restore law and order. And our own national police can’t…because the gangs are well armed and their firepower is superior…we need international assistance,” the diplomat recently told ‘s Sara Sidner.
‘s Angus Watson, Emmet Lyons and Arnaud Siad contributed to this report.
