The United Nations said earlier this month that 207 people had died in slums in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The United Nations has raised the death toll in the latest genocide in Haiti, saying its investigation found 207 people, including dozens of elderly people and Vodou religious leaders, were killed by gangs.
In a report released on Monday, the United Nations office in Haiti detailed the events that took place from December 6 to 11 near Wharf Jeremie in Cite Soleil, a coastal slum in the capital Port-au-Prince.
The gang took people from their homes and places of worship, interrogated them and then ‘executed’ them with bullets and machetes before burning their bodies and throwing them into the sea, the report said.
Earlier this month, Haitian human rights groups estimated that more than 100 people were killed in the incident, but a new UN investigation concluded that a total of 134 men and 73 women were killed.
“We cannot guarantee that nothing has happened,” said Maria Isabel Salvador, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Haiti.
“We urge the Haitian justice system to fully investigate this horrific crime and arrest and punish the perpetrators and their supporters,” she said in a statement.
The Haitian government acknowledged the killing of the elderly man in a statement released earlier this month and pledged to prosecute those responsible for this act of “unspeakable genocide.”
The United Nations Security Council issued a statement Monday condemning recent gang killings and expressing “deep concern” about the crisis in Haiti, highlighting food insecurity and gang recruitment of children.
anxiety and isolation
The security situation in Haiti has worsened so far that the United Nations recently ordered some staff to leave the country or relocate to safer areas in the capital.
The country is becoming increasingly isolated after Port-au-Prince International Airport was shut down after a commercial airliner was hit by gunfire.
The United Nations is discussing what action to take in Haiti after an international security mission led by 400 Kenyan police officers struggled to restore law and order.
One option being considered is a return to full-scale peacekeeping operations despite the mixed results of previous deployments, including MINUSTAH, a “stabilization” mission that ran from 2004 until its departure in 2017.
‘King Micanor’
Haitian human rights groups said the killing of Whorf Jeremy began after the son of local gang leader Micanor Altes died of illness.
Eyewitnesses said Altes, nicknamed “King Micanor,” accused his neighbors of casting an evil spell on his son and causing his illness.
In a report Monday, the United Nations said Altes’ gangs tracked people out of their homes and places of worship and transported them to locations where they were first interrogated and then killed.
The killings are the latest humanitarian tragedy in Haiti, where gang violence has worsened since the death of President Jovenel Moïse in a 2021 coup attempt.
The Caribbean nation is currently ruled by a transitional council that includes representatives from the business community, civil society and political parties, but the government has no control over large parts of the capital and gangs are constantly fighting over ports, highways and neighborhoods.
Gang warfare in Haiti has killed more than 5,358 people and injured 2,155 this year, according to the United Nations. Since the beginning of 2022, more than 17,000 people have been killed or injured in gang-related violence in Haiti.
