MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UN Chief condemns massacre in Haiti

Guterres also pressed Haiti's government to speed up the political transition

UN Secretary-General António Guterres Monday condemned the slaughtering of over 180 people between Dec. 6 and 8 near Port-au-Prince after a gang leader was told that the victims, all or most of them aged over 60, had rendered a son of his ill through witchcraft.

Guterres also urged local authorities through a statement to conduct a thorough investigation into the case of the gang that killed at least 184 people, including 127 men and women of legal age in the Wharf Jérémie neighborhood of Cité Soleil. In addition, the UN Chief addressed the need to keep the 2,500--strong multinational force led by Kenya to be provided with proper financing and gear.

Furthermore, the Portuguese Socialist leader pressed Haiti's government to speed up the political transition.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk pointed out that these 184 victims “bring the death toll in Haiti this year to a staggering 5,000 people.”

According to the latest figures from Port-au-Prince, 184 people were killed with knives and machetes between Thursday and Saturday in Cité Soleil by a criminal gang after its leader, alias 'Wa Mikano' went to a voodoo priest to inquire about the serious illness suffered by his son and was told that it was caused by the elders casting an evil eye on the child, whose death was also confirmed late Sunday as fears of further violence mounted.

Haitian Acting Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé issued a statement Monday condemning “this barbaric act, of unbearable cruelty,” which “cost the lives of more than a hundred women and men, most of them defenseless elderly.” He then promised “that these horrors do not go unpunished” and announced that he would deploy ”the repressive machinery of the State (...) with all its force and with the utmost speed to locate, capture and bring to justice the perpetrators and accomplices of this unspeakable massacre.“

”Justice will be done; the sacrifice of these souls will not be in vain, and the Republic will stop at nothing to restore order, dignity, and security to the population,” he added.