Page 6 - aruba-today-20241007

A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 7 october 2024
Over 6,000 people in Haiti leave their homes after gang attack

killed dozens

By PIERRE-RICHARD LUXA- said, adding that he didn't
MA and ELÉONORE HUGHES know whether it would take
Associated Press a day or a month. He also
SAINT-MARC, Haiti (AP) — appealed to the popu-
Nearly 6,300 people have lation, saying "the police
fled their homes in the af- cannot do it alone."Gang
termath of an attack in violence across Artibonite,
central Haiti by heavily which produces much of
armed gang members that Haiti's food, has increased
killed at least 70 people, in recent years. Since that
according to the U.N.'s mi- uptick, Thursday's attack is
gration agency. one of the biggest massa-
Nearly 90% of the displaced cres.
are staying with relatives Similar ones have taken
in host families, while 12% place in the capital of Port-
have found refuge in other au-Prince, 80% of which is
sites including a school, the controlled by gangs, and
International Organization they typically are linked to
for Migration said in a re- turf wars, with gang mem-
port last week. bers targeting civilians in
The attack in Pont-Sondé areas controlled by rivals.
happened in the early Many neighborhoods are
hours of Thursday morning, not safe, and people af-
and many left in the middle fected by the violence
of the night. People displaced by armed attacks receive food from a nongovernmental organization in Saint- have not been able to
Gang members "came in Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. return home, even if their
shooting and breaking into Associated Press houses have not been de-
the houses to steal and Reconciliation and Aware- force of the law in com- in a statement on Friday, stroyed.
burn. I just had time to grab ness to Save the Artibonite, ments in Saint-Marc on Fri- which it said marked "yet More than 700,000 people
my children and run in the told Magik 9 radio station day. another escalation in the — more than half of whom
dark," said 60-year-old So- on Friday. "It is necessary to arrest extreme violence these are children — are now in-
nise Mirano on Sunday, Initial estimates put the them, bring them to justice, criminal groups are inflict- ternally displaced across
who was camping with number of those killed at and put them in prison. ing on the Haitian people." Haiti, according to the In-
hundreds of people in a 20 people, but activists and They need to pay for what Haiti's government de- ternational Organization
park in the nearby coastal government officials dis- they have done, and the ployed an elite police for Migration in an Oct. 2
city of Saint-Marc. covered more bodies as victims need to receive res- unit based in the capital statement. That was an in-
Bodies lay strewn on the they accessed areas of the titution," he said. of Port-au-Prince to Pont- crease of 22% since June.
streets of Pont-Sondé fol- town. Among the victims The U.N. Human Rights Of- Sondé following the attack Port-au-Prince hosts a
lowing the attack in the was a young mother, her fice of the Commissioner and sent medical supplies quarter of the country's
Artibonite region, many newborn baby and a mid- said in a statement that it to help the area's lone, and displaced, often residing
of them killed by a shot to wife, Herace said. was "horrified by Thursday's overwhelmed, hospital. in overcrowded sites, with
the head, Bertide Harace, Prime Minister Garry Conille gang attacks." Police will remain in the little to no access to ba-
spokeswoman for the vowed that the perpetra- The European Union also area for as long as it takes sic services, the agency
Commission for Dialogue, tors would face the full condemned the violence to guarantee safety, Conille said.q

Advocacy groups suspend use of

‘suicide capsule’ pending Swiss

criminal probe of woman’s death

detention, said the group Switzerland has some of the in Switzerland as of Sept. 23
and Exit International, an most permissive laws in the and applications were sus-
affiliate founded in Australia world when it comes to as- pended after its first use.
over a quarter century ago. sisted suicide, though the Exit International, whose
Swiss police arrested Willet first use of the Sarco has founder Dr. Philip Nitschke
and several other people fol- prompted a debate among is based in the Netherlands,
lowing the death of an un- lawmakers. Laws in the rich is behind the 3D-printed de-
A 'suicide pod' known as 'The Sarco' is seen in Rotterdam, identified 64-year-old wom- Alpine country permit as- vice that cost over $1 million
Netherlands, July 8, 2024. an from the U.S. Midwest who sisted suicide so long as the to develop. The Sarco cap-
Associated Press on Sept. 23 became the first person takes his or her life sule is designed to allow a
person to use the device, with no "external assistance" person sitting in a reclining
By JAMEY KEATEN which numbered over 370 known as the "Sarco," in a and those who help the per- seat inside to push a button
Associated Press last month — as a criminal forest in the northern Schaff- son die do not do so for "any that injects nitrogen gas from
Advocacy groups behind investigation into its first use hausen region near the Ger- self-serving motive." a tank underneath into the
a so-called suicide capsule in Switzerland is completed. man border. The advocacy groups said in sealed chamber, allowing
said Sunday they have sus- The president of Switzerland- Others initially detained were a statement Sunday that 371 the person to fall asleep and
pended the process of tak- based The Last Resort, Florian released from custody, au- people were "in the process then die by suffocation in a
ing applications to use it — Willet, is being held in pretrial thorities have said. of applying" to use the Sarco few minutes. q