William O'Neill, the top United Nations expert on human rights in Haiti, has warned that humanitarian conditions there are rapidly deteriorating and could become "like Somalia in its worst moments," amid increased gang violence and political instability.

O'Neill, who has already worked in countries such as Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nepal, emphasizes "The difference in Haiti is that the State is practically absent. [...] It’s almost like a Hobbesian world where the strongest survive [...] and unfortunately the strongest at the moment are the gangs..."

In this context, thousands of people fled Port-au-Prince https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41969-haiti-social-the-haitian-population-caught-in-the-spiral-of-hunger.html 90% controlled by gangs. However, O'Neill fears that the violence will soon affect the rest of the country and cause a mass exodus of Haitians to the neighboring Dominican Republic or to the United States.

He criticized Washington for failing to crack down on the smuggling of American weapons from Florida to Haitian ports. "I am surprised that food or medicine cannot be brought to Haiti, but weapons and ammunition are arriving anyway [...] https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42051-haiti-flash-major-seizure-of-weapons-and-ammunition-in-cap-haitien-video.html If the gangs have not not their weapons or their ammunition, they lose all their power," he said.

"Frankly, at this point, I lack words," William O’Neill recently declared before the UN "It’s apocalyptic [...]" he continued. "There is a level of intensity and cruelty in the violence that is unprecedented in my experience in Haiti."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42051-haiti-flash-major-seizure-of-weapons-and-ammunition-in-cap-haitien-video.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41969-haiti-social-the-haitian-population-caught-in-the-spiral-of-hunger.html

HL/ HaitiLibre