#42 - Cleaning the Streets around Champ-de-Mars
A bit of life around the Champ-de-Mars, the Brooklyn neighborhood opened up in Cité-Soleil, Nanm and Pawol Tanbou in concert in Port-au-Prince and the Benjamin family celebrating Mikaben's birthday.
Over the past month, clean-up operations have been carried out in certain streets around the Champ-de-Mars. However, these initiatives remain limited and security in these areas remains precarious. This and more in HAITI WEEKLY #42 by DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO, a collective of journalists and media professionals based in Haiti.
Summary
A little Life around Champ-de-Mars
Cité-Soleil: the Brooklyn Neighborhood Opened Up?
Videoclip of the Week: Lè sa pat bon an (Noula nap gouye anba yo) by Abulah Tèt Bobis ft Naysan
Vodou Rendezvous in Port-au-Prince
Mikaben Family Launches Peace Program
A Little Life around Champ-de-Mars
In recent weeks, clean-up crews have begun work on parts of John Brown, Oswald-Durand, Magloire-Ambroise and Monseigneur-Guilloux streets, to the north and south of the Champ-de-Mars. These areas had been abandoned by public services after the attacks on the Champ-de-Mars this spring, leaving behind piles of garbage and numerous weeds overtaking the pavement.
A team led “in a private capacity” by Magalie Habitant, former person in charge of the Service métropolitain de la collecte des résidus solides (SMCRS), cleaned up the streets around the General Hospital in early July with the help of brooms, shovels, an excavator and a couple of dump trucks.
“Thank you Jesus, life is starting again,” Jonel shouted, arms raised, as he walked past the hospital on July 10 as crews finished clearing the rubble.
The teams then moved on to the Monsieur-Colo intersection, opposite the city's main stadium, and cleaned up as far as the entrance to the Portail Léogane bus station, which is still in disrepair.
“Be careful, don't speak too loudly, there are still armed men in the area”, explained a treated water vendor outside the stadium entrance. A fellow journalist we met on the ground in mid-July even reported seeing some of these men inside the stadium.
Our visit to the city also revealed the extent of destruction following recent clashes between armed criminal groups and the army-backed Haitian police. At least a dozen buildings were destroyed by the Haitian authorities in the fighting, although the total number is likely much higher. The police apparently suspected that these buildings were being used by the attackers as hideouts.
All the streets in the western part of the city center remain deserted. Located between the Champ-de-Mars and the sea, they are still not under police control. A corridor on rue des Casernes is used by armored vehicles to access the Bank of the Republic of Haiti and the National Port Authority, the only two governement institutions still operating in the area, guarded by heavily armed men.
Nearly a dozen armored vehicles from the new Kenyan-led international mission made their first patrol of downtown rue des Casernes on July 17, the day after 200 new Kenyan police officers arrived. A total of 400 Kenyan police officers are now present in Haiti, with another 600 expected in the coming months.
(Port-au-Prince) Schools, businesses and traffic are slowly returning to Port-au-Prince after a spring marked by violence from armed criminal groups. The arrival of 200 Kenyan police officers at the end of June, and another 200 last week, has raised faint hopes of a return to security.
General Hospital's Reopening Still Pending, APN Struggles to Operate - Le Nouvelliste
Meeting to discuss the clean-up and drainage program in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area - Le National
Cité-Soleil: the Brooklyn Neighborhood Opened Up?
The Brooklyn neighborhood, the most populated in the municipality of Cité-Soleil, is now open. After years of conflict between Gabriel Jean Pierre's group in Brooklyn and the G9 collective in the surrounding area, a final peace agreement has been reached, according to Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier. The latter went to the site last Wednesday and Thursday with armed men and a support team to begin removing the debris.
The G9 coalition and the coalition around Gabriel Jean-Pierre were already in conflict during the La Saline massacre in Port-au-Prince in November 2018, which was followed a few months later by the takeover of the neighborhood by a group of G9 member. This conflict caused many anti-G9 groups to retreat to Brooklyn, which had been the last major bastion of resistance to the G9.
As Jimmy Cherizier reminded us on Thursday morning, Gabriel Jean-Pierre is still not a member of the Viv Ansanm coalition created by the G9 and responsible for the attacks of March and April. In front of a few journalists, however, he declared the end of hostilities right in the middle of the Brooklyn intersection, in front of the former Cité-Soleil police station, now abandoned. The Brooklyn crossroads, at the entrance to the neighborhood of the same name, was one of the focal points of the conflict.
“I salute Gabriel, Mathias and Benji for their courage today in choosing the path of peace so that Cité-Soleil can live again,” he declared.
Over the past year, the armed groups had found some common ground and put an end to most of their rivalries. However, the groups were still wary of each other. In recent years, a single small road running along the sea had allowed Brooklyn residents to leave their neighborhood in safety.
Several groups of armed men were seen in the area on Wednesday and Thursday. Some buses and motorcycle taxis returned to the crossroads on Friday. Will this peace agreement last? We will have to see.
Cité Soleil: Gang Leaders Reach Peace Agreement, Celebrations Erupt in the Streets - Le Nouvelliste
Music Video of the Week
Lè sa pat bon an (Noula nap gouye anba yo) - Abulah Tèt Bobis ft Naysan
Syncopated drill rhythms, combined with a chorus and melody reminiscent of traditional Haitian songs characterize the collaboration of Abulah Tèt Bobis and Naysan. After the excellent Sam fè yo, one of the biggest hits of the spring, the duo is back with Lè sa pat bon an [When things weren't going well]. The song criticizes those who were absent during difficult times, but try to return when things are going well.
“We were two to plant, but when it's time to harvest, everyone gets excited,” goes the refrain.
Vodou Rendezvous in Port-au-Prince
Traditional vodou-influenced bands NanmVodoua and Pawol Tanbou warmed hearts in a unique collaboration at a special concert at the Institut français in Port-au-Prince last week. Video: Yvens Rumbold
Mikaben Family Launches Peace Program
Last month, the immediate family of the late singer Mikaben, including his mother Roseline Benjamin, a psychologist and psychotherapist, and his father, living music legend Lionel Benjamin, unveiled a program aimed at fostering peace among Haiti’s youth. The Ti Souf Foundation plans to train 40 young people from working-class neighborhoods “in leadership and entrepreneurship, to develop their material independence, to earn a living with dignity and to respect the values essential for success in life”.
The announcement was made on June 27, the birthday of Mikaben, whose real name was Michael Benjamin. The famous artist died of a heart attack at the age of 41, while performing in front of thousands of people at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in France in October 2022.
At A Glance : Official Exams in Schools Across the Country
Delayed by the crisis, the national exams to complete the primary and secondary school cycles are finally taking place across the country. This video from our JCOM collaborators in Grand'Anse shows how the exams are going in the Jérémie region.
DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO’s team
Photojournalists: Francillon Laguerre, Sonson Thelusma, Andoo Lafond, Milot Andris, Patrick Payin
Editorial board: Etienne Côté-Paluck, Jean Elie Fortiné, Jean-Paul Saint-Fleur
Interns: Wilky Andris, Donley Jean Simon
Special collaboration: Stéphanie Tourillon-Gingras, Yvens Rumbold, Josué Visual, Mateo Fortin Lubin
Media partners: Centre à la Une, J-COM, Nord-Est Info
Institutional partners: Kay Fanm, Mouka.ht
Special thanks to the Fonds québécois pour le journalisme international (FQJI) for its support.
How Does Your Contribution Help?
Your monthly support helps to finance the production and pay the salaries of the DÈYÈ MÒN ENFO staff in the communities of Cité-Soleil, Port-au-Prince and Cayes-Jacmel. In addition, donations are regularly distributed for medical expenses, school fees and other emergencies in these communities.
Press Reviews
Press Review - Culture and Heritage
Nanm a fait le show à l'Institut français - Le Nouvelliste
Rutshelle Guillaume reçoit le Prix Nuits d’Afrique pour la francophonie - Le Nouvelliste
«Vagabondages éphémères», le tout premier roman du journaliste haïtien Philomé Robert - Le National
Oxygen, le troisième album d'Oswald - Le Nouvelliste
Décolonisation, spiritualité… MDO 333 explore des sujets délicats dans son premier album - Le Nouvelliste
Les pièces de Mélissa Béralus, Erickson Jeudy et Phanuella Lincifort pré sélectionnées du prix RFI théâtre 2024 - Le National
SamPriviose, une voix émergente dans le paysage musical haïtien - Le Nouvelliste
Les autorités bahamiennes lancent des recherches pour trouver MechansT - Loop Haiti
La famille du rappeur MechansT perd contact avec lui, appelle à l'aide - Loop Haiti
Les groupes musicaux Ram et Boukman Eksperyans à la 18e édition du festival Haïti en folie - Le National
Press Review - Gender and Women Rights
presented by KAY FANM
Kay Fanm : « Non à la velléité de dénaturer le ministère à la Condition féminine » - Rezo Nòdwès
Haïti : l’instabilité alimente la recrudescence des violences sexuelles - Le National
Les défis majeurs des femmes haïtiennes face au cancer du sein - AyiboPost
Viol et assassinat d'une adolescente de 13 ans: le gouvernement réagit - Loop Haiti
Fuyant l’insécurité à P-au-P, des enfants abusés dans le sud - AyiboPost
10 mai : les femmes de Gressier racontent une soirée sombre - AyiboPost
Une clinique mobile pour les femmes incarcérées à la prison de Delmas - Loop Haiti
« Personne n'est épargné » : la violence sexuelle utilisée comme une arme dans la crise humanitaire en Haïti - Le National
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