Direct threats

“As MSF, we accept working in conditions of insecurity, but when even law enforcement becomes a direct threat, we have no choice but to suspend the admission of patients in Port-au-Prince until the conditions are met for us to resume” , says Christophe Garnier, head of MSF in Haiti.

“Every day we are unable to resume operations is a tragedy, as we are one of the few providers of a wide range of medical services to remain open during this extremely difficult year.

“However, we can no longer continue to operate in an environment where our staff are at risk of being attacked, raped or even killed!”

After the November 11 incident, in just one week, MSF faced the following four incidents, which left us with no choice but to suspend our activities in Port-au-Prince:

1 – On 12 November, two MSF ambulances were stopped by officers of the Brigade de Recherche et D’Intervention (BRI) of the Haitian National Police, who threatened to kill MSF staff in the near future.

2 – On November 16, in Delmas 33, one of our drivers was verbally assaulted by plainclothes policemen who warned us of future attacks on our ambulances.

3 – On November 17, shortly before midnight, another MSF ambulance carrying a patient was stopped near Boulevard Toussaint Louverture by a SWAT team that threatened to kill the patient on the spot. After intense negotiations, the ambulance was allowed to continue its journey to the MSF hospital in Tabarre.

4 – On November 18, in Carrefour Rita, a Haitian National Police vehicle driven by a plainclothes police officer armed with a pistol stopped an MSF vehicle transporting staff to the work site. He threatened the MSF staff on board, saying that next week the police force would start executing and burning our staff, patients and ambulances.

There were also several attacks on MSF ambulances and staff by armed vigilantes, including on 11 November.