As brutal gang violence continues to spill over from the capital Port-au-Prince into the Artibonite and other departments of Haiti, the United Nations Secretary-General on Friday joined the Haitian Prime Minister in strongly condemning a horrific gang attack in the town of Pont Sondé, outside the Haitian capital, that left at least 70 people dead, including at least 10 women and three infants. Guterres also called for urgent support for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.
"The criminals responsible for these abominable acts will be hunted down and brought to justice, without respite," Prime Minister Garry Conille said in a statement.
Haiti's transitional government said members of the Gran Grif gang carried out the attack in the town of Pont-Sondé in the Artibonite department on Thursday. Pont-Sondé is a town in the Bocozelle district of Saint-Marc commune in Haiti's Artibonite department.
According to a report in the Haiti Gazette, the gang tried to extort money from the local population, who refused to pay. The massacre was in retaliation. Other media reported that the Gran Grif gang retaliated against civilians for remaining passive while police and vigilantes killed a gang member.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said gang members firing automatic rifles also reportedly set fire to at least 45 houses and 34 cars, forcing a number of residents to flee. At least 6,200 people have been displaced by the attack, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA), 88 percent of those affected have sought refuge with relatives or other host families in neighboring communes. Other displaced people have gathered in three different locations.
A number of people were also wounded, including two gang members. Sixteen people were seriously injured, OHCHR said. The government said many of the injured were being treated at the Saint-Nicolas public hospital in Saint-Marc.
"As gang violence continues to spread from the capital to other departments of Haiti, the Secretary-General stresses the importance of the joint efforts undertaken by the Haitian National Police and the Multinational Security Support mission," Guterres' spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters Friday, adding that those efforts must be supported.
“The Secretary-General urgently appeals to all Member States to ensure that the Multinational Security Support mission receives the financial and logistical assistance they need in order to succeed,“ Dujarric said.
The UN Human Rights Office is also calling for increased international financial and logistical support for the MSS mission in Haiti.
“It is crucial that the authorities carry out a prompt and thorough investigation into this attack, hold those responsible to account, and guarantee reparations for the victims and their families,” OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said Friday.
In June, the Multinational Security Support mission began its first deployment of about 400 police from Kenya, which is also leading the mission. About 100 more from Jamaica and Belize have also been deployed to help the embattled Haitian National Police subdue armed gangs that have terrorized the country's capital and some outlying areas.
Kenya has announced it will send an additional 600 security personnel to Haiti - 300 in October and 300 in November. Other countries are expected to contribute police officers to the force.
The non-UN mission has been plagued by delays as well as funding and equipment shortages. But it has had some success inside the capital. The government said agents from the Haitian National Police's anti-gang unit have been deployed as reinforcements to support teams already on the ground in Artibonite. Specialized police units supported by the MSS are also being deployed to the area.
On Monday, the United Nations Security Council approved a one-year extension of the MSS mission.
Haiti has been rocked by instability since 2021, when President Jovenel Moise was assassinated. Prime Minister Ariel Henry then led the country until he announced his resignation in March. An interim government is now in place with the goal of organizing free and fair elections. Haiti has not had an election since 2016.
For the past three years, Haiti has been under attack by armed gangs that control or influence 80 to 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, and are spreading to rural areas and other towns. According to the latest figures documented by the UN Human Rights Office, at least 3,661 people were killed between January and September this year.
The country is facing a massive humanitarian crisis as a result of the violence. On Monday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said that more than half of the country's population - 5.4 million people - are struggling to feed themselves.
At least 6,000 displaced people in shelters in the capital are facing catastrophic levels of hunger, while 2 million people are in emergency hunger (IPC Phase 4), facing extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition and high levels of disease.
The latest IPC report covers the period from August 2024 to February 2025 and includes a projection for March to June 2025. With approximately 5.54 million people facing acute hunger, the situation is not expected to improve during the forecast period, as humanitarian food assistance is not expected to meet the needs of the population.
As of October, more than 700,000 people are internally displaced, an increase of 22 percent since June, according to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration. More than half of the displaced are children. Haiti is now the country with the largest number of displacements due to crime-related violence in the world.
In a statement on Friday, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called for increased and urgent attention, support and solutions for Haitians affected by violence and insecurity, including those who have been forcibly displaced.
Despite the growing urgency of the crisis, funding for the MSS mission and humanitarian response in Haiti remains critically low. The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) requires $674 million and is currently only 39 percent funded.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.