Mob kills two men thinking they were buying ammunition for gangs in Haiti

Two people in Haiti were killed by a mob who thought they were buying ammunition or weapons for a gang terrorizing the country, police said Saturday.

Police confirmed that the mob wrested the men from police custody after they found about $20,000 and a box of Haitian cash, the equivalent of about $43,000, two pistols and ammunition in their car.

Carrying so much cash was considered suspicious and residents assumed it was a purchase of weapons for the gangs.

The killings took place on Friday in a village near the provincial town of Mireblais. The police fired warning shots into the air to try to stop the killings, but were killed by the mob anyway. According to their identity documents, one of the victims was a police officer and the other was a former guard.

The killings underlined how understaffed Haiti’s police force is and how angry Haitians are after months of killings, kidnappings and armed attacks by the country’s gangs.

Over the past month, gangs have attacked key infrastructure in the capital Port-au-Prince, including a police station, the main international airport that remains closed and Haiti’s two largest prisons, and freed more than 4,000 prisoners. Is.

On Thursday, William O’Neill, the U.N. human rights expert for Haiti, said the conflict-torn Caribbean nation now needs 4,000 to 5,000 international police to help deal with “devastating” gang violence that is destroying key people, hospitals, schools. Taking aim. Bank. And other important institutions.

According to O’Neill’s report, the number of people killed and injured as a result of gang violence increased significantly in 2023, with 4,451 people killed and 1,668 injured. This year, as of March 22, the numbers have continued to rise, with 1,554 people killed and 826 injured.

According to the report, as a result of the increase in gang violence, so-called “self-defense brigades” have taken the law into their own hands, and “at least 528 cases of lynching were reported and another 59 cases were reported in 2023.” 2024.”

O’Neill said it is important to restore security and that it is important and necessary to deploy international forces to Haiti.

Officially establishing and activating a transitional presidential council is also “important” and “absolutely critical,” O’Neill said, adding that he hoped that could happen by next week. Kenyan President William Ruto has said he will not deploy police to lead the planned multinational security operation until he has a Haitian counterpart, the UN expert said.

O’Neill said the trust fund to finance international police operations is also in dire need of funding.

Haiti requested an international force to combat gangs in October 2022, he said, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a force last July.