Extract from ABC News
As Yousaf al-Omari shows us through the blackened rubble of one of Haiti's many razed homes, he warns us there are questions he can't safely answer.
"There is some things we cannot say right now," he says.
"There is gangsters around us now."
Yousaf, a volunteer charity worker, is translating for Pierre Ricot, a sound engineer who lives in the Caribbean nation's besieged capital, Port-au-Prince.
The men are giving us a tour via video call through what remains of Pierre's home.
It was torched by gangsters while Pierre was at work last week, they tell us. His wife and three of their children were home at the time but managed to escape.
The car he relies on as a taxi — his second job — was also set alight.
"Everything he was working hard to make, to build — in one day, in one minute, he loses everything," Yousaf says.
Gang violence was already rampant in Haiti but it exploded in late February while the unelected and unpopular prime minister, Ariel Henry, was overseas.
Gangs hell-bent on overthrowing him set fire to buildings and cars and stormed prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.
"Now every prisoner [who escaped] rejoined the gangster group," Yousaf says. "Now every gangster group [has] become more stronger."
Henry has stepped down, and Port-au-Prince is now largely under gang control.
"Every day, I see bad things," Yousaf says.
"I saw people die in front of me by hunger, I saw people die by thirst, I saw the gangsters killing people and burn[ing] their body."
After we speak, Yousaf films the area around him. He sends us videos showing the charred remains of a body and stray dogs sniffing about in the rubble. Mounds of tyres burn nearby. Plumes of toxic smoke descend over the desolate streets.
It's a snapshot of a nation that's been plunged into anarchy.
According to the UN, more than 360,000 Haitians have now been displaced by gang violence — half of them children. And 1.4 million people are on the brink of famine.
"We've had plenty of really significant crises … [but] this is really the most acute crisis in modern times," says Robert Fatton, a Haitian American and professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia.
"You have no government, virtually all institutions have collapsed and the formation of a new government is a very complicated business.
"And you have increasingly powerful armed men that may ultimately be the arbiter of what happens next, which is very bad news for the country."
A lawless island with no leader
Haiti hasn't had an elected president since 2021. In July of that year, then-president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by armed men in his home in the middle of the night.
A group of ambassadors later selected Ariel Henry to become the nation's interim prime minister.
The de facto leader promised to hold elections, but they were never held — his administration citing instability as a major obstacle.
Decades of political turmoil have fanned the flames of civil unrest, fuelled by anger over corruption and foreign interference.
Amid the power vacuum, gangs have flourished. The terror unleashed on residents has become increasingly violent. Kidnappings are common.
People who live in the capital's sprawling Cite Soleil slum are routinely raped, beaten and killed.
Now more than 8,400 people are estimated to have been victims of gang violence in Haiti last year, according to the UN Security Council.
This includes murder, kidnappings and injuries — an increase of 122 per cent on 2022.
The rise of a notorious gangster
Professor Fatton painted a picture of a vast and deeply rooted gang landscape home to some 200 groups.
At the top of them sits Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier — the former elite police officer who leads an alliance of several gangs known as the G9.
Asked about his nickname, Barbecue claims he got it after his mother's famous grilled chicken. But his opponents claim it alludes to his penchant for setting his victims on fire — an accusation he denies.
The 47-year-old is the most high-profile face of the nation's recent unrest and has been an outspoken critic of Henry.
"He considers himself Che Guevara sometimes, [Fidel] Castro other times, then Martin Luther King, [Nelson] Mandela," Professor Fatton said.
"He presents himself as a revolutionary, as the guy who's going to change Haiti."
In a seven-minute voice recording circulated on WhatsApp, the mobster threatened the politicians appointed to join a "transitional council", which is set to replace the prime minister under a deal brokered with Caribbean nations, the US and Canada.
Once formed, the council will appoint another de facto prime minister and prepare for a future presidential election.
"You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen," Barbecue told the politicians.
"I'll know if your kids are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti … if your husbands are in Haiti. If you're going to run the country, all your family ought to be there."
Another gang leader thought to be more powerful but less visible than Barbecue is Johnson André, also known as Izo.
The 26-year-old is known for the brutal violence he inflicts on those he perceives to have targeted his members and the rap videos he posts to social media.
Professor Fatton said the mass prison break that happened this month, which triggered a state of emergency, was made possible with the help of drone surveillance provided by Izo's gang.
The Mawozo gang is yet another key group. It is believed to have been behind the 2021 abduction of 17 American and Canadian missionaries from an orphanage in Port-au-Prince.
"These gangs are not something that came out of the blue — they were nurtured. They were financed by powerful interests in Haiti, businessmen, politicians, et cetera," Professor Fatton said.
"What's more alarming is that at one point, there was warfare between the different gangs … but for the last 10 days the gangs have federated, they've united," he said.
Now a coalition of dangerous armed groups control 80 per cent of the nation's capital and are independently funded by the proceeds of arms and drug trafficking, kidnappings and extortion.
"They control the main arteries from the southern part of Haiti to the capital city … so every major convoy of gas, which is essential for the functioning of the city have to go through territories controlled by the gangs."
Brokering a deal with gangsters
Security concerns have plunged the Caribbean nation further into the depths of a humanitarian crisis. Roadblocks have led to shortages of food and fuel, while water is unable to be distributed.
The World Food Bank estimates 44 per cent of the population faces critical food insecurity.
Hospitals are deserted as medical staff are unable to get to work without risking their lives.
Médecins Sans Frontières runs seven emergency health facilities across Haiti but even their operation has at times been forced to close.
The organisation's lead Samora Chalmers said an attack on one of its ambulances this year left staff traumatised after unidentified men killed one of their patients.
"We had to close for two months to really talk to the community, to make sure that we can function in security, and … to make sure they won't harm us," she said.
"We have this guarantee, for now."
Ms Chalmers estimates her organisation will run out of some critical medicines within two weeks. Blood supplies are also running low.
Meanwhile, women and girls as young as 12 are suffering systemic sexual violence in areas controlled by gangs, according to the UN.
Ms Chalmers has seen this firsthand. She says her organisation has seen more than 4,000 women seeking help for rape and sexual assault in the past three months alone.
Finding homegrown solutions
Now a transitional council, backed by the US and Caribbean nations, is in the process of being established.
Once it's formed in the coming days, it will vote to appoint the future de facto prime minister of Haiti and prepare the nation for a future presidential election.
The council is made up of nine members, seven of which have voting powers. These include foreign representatives and local Haitian political parties.
The US, which is one of the voting members, has chosen career diplomat Dennis Hankins to represent America on the council.
It comes as an international security mission, to be led by Kenya, is set to be deployed to restore order to Haiti once a new government is in place.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the council and security force were "a work in progress" but were moving forward.
"This is never going to be smooth and never going to be linear," he said on Friday, as the US announced a further $33 million in humanitarian aid.
Professor Fatton isn't convinced the answer lies in more foreign intervention: "Haitians want Haitian solutions to Haitian problems," he said.
"I don't know how you extricate the country from the current crisis. If I knew I would tell you. But I have a very bleak view of the future."
On the ground in the besieged Caribbean capital, many cling to hope for what's left of their country.
"One day Haiti will be nice," Yousaf said.
"Because Haiti was not like this … [and] because the people of Haiti are good people."
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