US evacuates embassy staff from Haiti as gang wars intensify: Timeline of how things went berserk

The US military has airlifted non-essential embassy personnel from Haiti and has also flown in troops to bolster security at their embassy amid escalating gang violence in the Caribbean country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

“This airlift of personnel into and out of the embassy is consistent with our standard practice for embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,” the US military’s Southern Command said in a statement.

As the situation in Haiti continues to remain tense, here’s a timeline of events that have transpired in the past few days.

February 29: Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, landed in Nairobi to hold talks with Kenyan President William Ruto to salvage the deployment of a United Nations-backed multinational security mission in the country. This force, to be led by 1,000 Kenyan police officers, was mandated to counter the raging gang violence in Haiti. However, the Kenyan government has faced internal opposition to the plan. A court also ruled it as unconstitutional.

The gangs in Haiti used Henry’s absence from the country to their advantage. Violence and heavy gunfire broke out in downtown Port-au-Prince in what a gang leader termed a demonstration against authorities.