Haiti closes airport after Spirit Airlines plane hit by gunfire

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Haiti’s international airport closed Monday after gangs opened fire on a commercial plane landing in Port-Au-Princeprompting some airlines to temporarily suspend operations as the country swore in a new interim prime minister who promised to restore peace.

The Spirit Airlines flight en route from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-Au-Prince was only a hundred feet from landing in Haiti’s capital when gangs fired at the plane, hitting a flight attendant who suffered minor injuries, according to the airline, US Embassy and flight tracking data. The flight was diverted and landed in the Dominican Republic.

Photos and videos taken by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane.

The shooting appeared to be part of what the US embassy called “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince, which may include armed violence and disruption of roads, ports and airports.” Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines said Monday they were canceling flights to and from Haiti.

In other parts of Haiti’s capital, gun battles broke out between gangs and police. Rounds of gunfire echoed through the streets as heavily armed officers ducked behind walls and civilians ran in terror. In other upper-class areas, gangs set fire to homes. Schools closed as panic spread in a number of areas.

The unrest comes a day after a council was supposed to restore democratic order in the Caribbean nation fired interim prime minister Garry Conilleand replaced him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The council has been characterized by infighting and three members was recently accused of corruption.

When he was sworn in, Fils-Aimé said his top priorities were to restore peace to the crisis-stricken nation and hold elections, which have not been held in Haiti since 2016.

“There is a lot that needs to be done to bring back hope,” he said in front of a room of suit-clad diplomats and security officials. “I am deeply sorry for the people … who have become victims, forced to leave everything they own.”

The country has seen weeks of political chaos that observers warned could result in more violence in a place where bloodshed has become the new normal. The country’s array of gangs has long exploited political unrest to seize power, shut down airports, shipping ports and wreak havoc.

The UN estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince, while a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell gang violence with a lack of funding and staff, which led to calls for a UN peacekeeping mission.

Louis-Henri Mars, executive director of Lakou Lapè, an organization that works on peacebuilding in violent areas of Haiti, said the political battles have “given the gangs more freedom to attack more neighborhoods in the city and expand their control over Port- au Prince.” Civilians, he fears, will suffer the consequences.

“There will be more lives lost, more internal displacement and more hunger in a country where half the population is on the brink of starvation,” he said.

The Transitional Council was created in April to choose Haiti’s next prime minister and cabinet, with the hope that it would help quell the violence that exploded after Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021.

The council was supposed to pave the way for democratic elections, but it has been plagued by politics and infighting, and has long been at odds with Conillethe interim prime minister they handpicked six months ago whom they fired yesterday. Gangs have taken advantage of that power vacuum to make their own power grabs.

Conille criticized the council’s decision to fire him, calling it an illegal overreach of their powers.

“This resolution, taken outside any legal and constitutional framework, raises serious concerns about its legitimacy and its implications for the future of our country,” he wrote in a letter.

Organizations including the Organization of American States tried and failed last week to mediate differences in an attempt to save the fragile transition.

On Monday, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called on all those involved in Haiti’s democratic transition to “work constructively together”, although he stopped short of offering an opinion on moves to oust Conille.

“Overcoming their differences and putting the country first remains critical,” he said. “What is important is that Haitian political leaders put Haiti’s interests first.”

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Associated Press reporters David Koenig contributed to this report from Dallas and Pierre-Richard Luxama contributed from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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