Page 7 - aruba-today-20220618

A7
WORLD NEWS Saturday 18 June 2022
U.N.: Haiti police need immediate help amid surge in violence

By EVENS SANON and from police the day the
DÁNICA COTO gang attacked the court-
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) house.
— A U.N. special envoy The organization added
warned Thursday that Hai- that one person was in-
ti’s police force needs im- jured by a bullet as gangs
mediate help to fight crime stole seven cars and equip-
and violence, noting that ment including computers,
gangs have grown so pow- chairs and air conditioners.
erful they recently seized Three days later, the furni-
control of a local court- ture was seen on display
house. along a nearby street for
Helen La Lime, the top U.N. sale, the rights group said.
official in Haiti, said insecu- It noted that the court
rity is rapidly deteriorating takeover occurred days af-
in the country of more than ter criminals took over the
11 million people, with an nearby building of the Cen-
average of almost seven ter for Planning Techniques
kidnappings reported a and Applied Economics.
day. Before the gang burst
In May alone, she said more into the courthouse, law-
than 200 killings and 198 yer unions and others had
abductions were reported. been protesting what they
Those kidnappings includ- A police officer patrols a street during an anti-gang operation in Croix-des-Missions, north of Port- said was a lack of security
au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 28, 2022.
ed two busloads of children Associated Press as they demanded more
and three U.N. personnel protection. Meanwhile,
and their dependents, with Prince, looting and burn- of the gang,” he said. including guns and money. court clerks launched a
one local staff member ing case files and pieces Lafontant added that while He declined to provide de- countrywide strike in mid-
killed in a crossfire between of evidence, she said. Au- services at the Court of First tails about the case files, April that lasted more than
gangs, according to a U.N. thorities have identified Instance were interrupted including whether any are a month.
Security Council report. the gang as “5 Seconds,” after the gang burst into related to the investigation U.N. officials note that Hai-
“The pervasive and deep- which supposedly repre- the courthouse on Friday, into the July 7 assassination tian police have arrested
ening sense of insecurity, sents the amount of time they have temporarily re- of President Jovenel Moïse hundreds of suspected
exacerbated by the (Hai- it takes them to commit a sumed at another govern- that remains stalled. gang members and killed
tian National Police’s) crime. They control the Vil- ment building in the capi- “These groups are being more than 120 others,
seeming inability to address lage de Dieu slum located tal. guided by an invisible hand as well as seized several
the situation and the mani- in front of the courthouse Meanwhile, Aine Martin, to destroy sensitive docu- hundred firearms and in-
fest impunity with which they targeted. who oversees Haiti’s as- ments,” he said, declining creased checkpoints and
criminal acts are being Government Commissioner sociation of court clerks, to identify who he thinks patrols. They added that
committed, is dangerously Jacques Lafontant told The told the AP that the gang might be giving orders to while various countries in-
fraying the rule of law,” said Associated Press that he is destroyed documents and gangs. cluding the U.S. have pro-
La Lime, who spoke at a still waiting for Haiti’s Na- barred lawyers and judges Fondasyon Je Klere, a hu- vided training and equip-
U.N. Security Council meet- tional Police to go to the from reaching their offices. man rights group based ment, the department
ing on Thursday. courthouse to assess the He said authorities are still in Haiti, said employees, remains understaffed and
The warning comes just damage and ongoing situ- trying to remove a huge lawyers, defendants and under resourced, with only
days after a gang targeted ation. safe from the courthouse others were able to save 12,800 active police offi-
the Court of First Instance “For now, it’s clear that the that contains important themselves by climbing cers for a country of more
in the capital of Port-au- place is under the control documents and evidence walls and receiving help than 11 million people.q

Building collapse kills 6 in Egyptian

capital of Cairo

By AHMED HATEM six-story building in the el- Building collapses are com-
Associated Press Waily neighborhood when mon in Egypt, where shod-
CAIRO (AP) — A building it gave way in the early dy construction and lack
collapse early on Friday in hours of the morning. of maintenance is wide-
the Egyptian capital of Cai- He said workers were con- spread in shantytowns,
ro killed six people, authori- tinuing to search through in poor city neighborhoods
ties said, as rescuers at the the rubble. and rural areas.
scene searched through People were also asked The country’s government
the rubble. to leave the surrounding has tried to crack down
It was not immediately buildings because of struc- on illegal building in recent
known what caused the tural concerns. years after decades of lax
collapse. Bulldozers and diggers enforcement.
The city’s deputy governor, were still lifting debris at the But the megacity still con-
Ibrahim Abdel-Hadi, said in scene on Friday afternoon. tains entire neighborhoods
a statement released by A neighboring building had of unlicensed red brick
the Interior Ministry that one lost part of a wall, expos- apartment buildings and Residents and rescue workers sift through the rubble of a
collapsed building in El-Weili neighborhood, Cairo, Egypt,
family of six was believed ing the interior of an apart- shantytowns.q Friday, June 17, 2022.
to have been inside the ment. Associated Press