PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of Haitians attended a collective funeral Saturday for eight people killed in a drone attack last month in a gang-controlled slum in the capital Port-au-Prince.
On Sept. 20, explosive drones targeting a suspected gang leader killed nine people inside a slum in Haiti’s capital and wounded 17 others, according to Doctors Without Borders. The organization admitted the victims into its hospitals.
The explosions happened in Cité Soleil, which is controlled by Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition that the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Relatives and activists blamed police for the attack.
Family members and residents of Cité Soleil mourned the victims, including four children, at a park in the community.
Still traumatized by the attack, some attendees mistook a bird flying overhead for a drone, sparking panic as people ran in different directions. Many fled the scene.
Claudia Bobrun, 30, said she did not have the strength to look at the coffin of her 8-year-old daughter, Samira Nelson. She described her daughter as a happy child who died while playing with friends. Community leaders helped cover the costs of the funeral.
Jislene Statune, 50, said she lost two grandchildren and her eldest daughter, 32, who was the head of the family. Her daughter, who sold used clothes to support relatives, was killed in front of her home.
On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council voted to authorize a much larger, 5,550-member international force with expanded powers to help stop escalating gang violence in Haiti.
The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Panama, will transform the current Kenya-led multinational force into a “Gang Suppression Force” with the power to arrest suspected gang members, which the current force does not have.
Gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenal Moïse in 2021. They now control 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have expanded their activities, including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape, into the countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.
Gang violence has left a record more than 1.3 million people homeless across Haiti in recent years, and hunger and poverty are only deepening.
Millions of Haitians remain frustrated that their situation has not improved despite the promise of a new international force.
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Associated Press writer Gabriela Sá Pessoa contributed from Sao Paulo.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
By EVENS SANON
Associated Press
