Haiti: Gangs and stray bullets

Haiti is facing its most most acute humanitarian crisis for more than a decade. There’s been a surge in violence with armed gangs in control of most of the capital. The prime minister has resigned, there’s a month long state of emergency and a curfew has been extended. The gangs have destroyed police buildings and, after storming a prison in the capital Port-au-Prince, thousands of escaped prisoners are back on the streets.

In this edition, hosted by Lukwesa Burak and Luke Jones, we hear from Haitians caught up in this latest violence. “Sometimes you find bullets on the bed everywhere because those people, they are shooting without control,” says Bernado. “Sometimes you see them walking around the street, close to your house, and shooting.”

More than 15,000 people have been displaced in the past two weeks but not everyone can or wants to escape. “I don’t feel like I should have to leave my country because I haven’t not done anything wrong,” says headteacher Tatiana from Port-au-Prince. “This is the only place that’s home.”

We also hear how aid agency workers are coping with a population in crisis. “People are tired,” says Kwanli Kaldstrup from Concern Worldwide. “You can see the trauma. They don’t know when their neighbourhood is going to be attacked, when they’re going to have to pick up and just leave without any of their belongings.”

A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC OS team.

(Photo: Tatiana packed some food and left for the mountains when the fighting broke out. Credit: Tatiana)