Haiti: Gang kills 110 people accused of witchcraft

Haiti: Gang kills 110 people accused of witchcraft

No fewer than 110 mostly elderly people have been brutally murdered by gang members in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, according to a human rights group.

The National Human Rights Defence Network (RNDDH) alleged a local gang leader attacked them when his kid became ill and died.

The gang leader reportedly sought advice from a voodoo priest, who blamed the boy’s mysterious sickness on older neighbours practicing “witchcraft.”

According to the United Nations, “a staggering 5,000” people have been slain in Haiti this year as a result of spiralling gang violence.

While facts of the massacre are still coming, the UN’s human rights commissioner, Volker Türk, estimated the number of persons killed over the weekend “in violence orchestrated by the leader of a powerful gang” at 184.

The deaths took place in the capital’s Cité Soleil area.

According to reports, gang members took scores of citizens over the age of 60 from their homes in the Wharf Jérémie region, rounding them up and shooting or stabbing them to death with knives and machetes.

Residents reported seeing mangled bodies being burnt on the streets.

The RNDDH estimated that 60 people were slaughtered on Friday, and another 50 were picked up and murdered on Saturday, after the gang leader’s son died of illness.

While RNDDH stated that all of the victims were above the age of 60, another rights group claimed that several younger individuals who attempted to defend the elderly were also killed.

According to local media, elderly individuals who are thought to practice voodoo were singled out because the gang leader was told their son’s illness was caused by them.

READ ALSO:

• Police rescue 36 kidnap victims in Kebbi
• Youth group insists on Seyi Tinubu as next Lagos governor, says “Pastors hand over to their sons”
• 2027 presidency: Tinubu hasn’t shown reasons to be re-elected – Atiku

According to rights groups, the individual who ordered the executions was Monel Felix, also known as Mikano.

Mikano is recognised for controlling Wharf Jérémie, a strategic sector in the capital’s port.

According to Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, a Haiti expert with the Global Initiative against Transnational Crime (GI-TOC), the area is modest yet difficult for security forces to access.

According to local media, Mikano’s gang kept inhabitants from leaving Wharf Jérémie, thus news of the brutal killings spread slowly.

The group is part of the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which dominates much of Haiti’s capital.

Since President Jovenel Moïse’s killing in 2021, Haiti has experienced a surge in gang violence.

Data acquired by GI-TOC reveal that the murder rate fell between May and September of this year, after opposing gangs formed an uneasy agreement.

However, the gangs’ attempts to expand their turf beyond their strongholds in the capital have resulted in particularly deadly occurrences in the last two months, with ordinary residents rather than rival gang members becoming increasingly targeted.

On October 3, 115 people were slain in the little village of Pont-Sondé, Artibonite department.

The Gran Grif gang purportedly carried out the killing in revenge for some people joining a vigilante organisation to oppose Gran Grif’s attempts to blackmail communities.

If confirmed, the UN death toll for this weekend’s killings in Cité Soleil will make it the deadliest incident of the year thus far.

READ ALSO:

• Wike, AGF seek amendment of TETFund Act to include Law School
• New PH refinery over 90% completed —Mele Kyari
• CJN vows to punish frivolous petitioners against judges

With gangs controlling an estimated 85% of Port-au-Prince and expanding areas of the countryside, hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been forced to evacuate their homes.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, there are over 700,000 internally displaced individuals in the country, half of whom are children.

Gang members frequently utilise sexual abuse, including gang rape, to instill fear among the locals.

In a report published two weeks ago, Human Rights Watch researcher Nathalye Cotrino noted that “the rule of law in Haiti is so broken that members of criminal groups rape girls and women without fear of repercussions.”

Attempts by the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission to stop the violence have so far been unsuccessful.

The international police force landed in Haiti in June to support the Haitian National Police, but it is understaffed and lacks the required weaponry to combat the heavily armed gangs.

Meanwhile, the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), the organisation established to conduct elections and restore democratic order, appears to be in disarray.

The TPC dismissed the interim prime minister last month and appears to have made little headway in organising elections.

“They reign over a mountain of ashes,” writes GI-TOC’s Romain Le Cour Grandmaison on the council in his report.

Haiti: Gang kills 110 people accused of witchcraft