Eleven civilians, including eight children, were killed on Saturday in Haiti’s capital when drones aimed at a gang leader struck a birthday party where community members had gathered, a human rights group said.
In March, the authorities in Haiti hired foreign military contractors to operate armed drones to target gangs that terrorize the capital, Port-au-Prince. The contractors work for a company owned by Erik Prince, a prominent supporter of President Trump.
Experts have warned that the strikes were not only a violation of international law, because there is no officially declared armed conflict in the country, but also bound to inflict collateral damage in densely populated urban areas where gang members operate.
While two police officers were accidentally killed by a drone last month and two civilian adults died in drone strikes in June, Saturday’s episode was believed to be the first time children were among the victims.
Two “kamikaze” drones were deployed Saturday evening in Simon Pelé, a gang-controlled area in Cité Soleil, a large, impoverished neighborhood near Port-au-Prince’s airport, according to the National Human Rights Defense Network.
The target was Albert Steevenson, a gang leader also known as Djouma, who was celebrating his birthday and distributing gifts to children, the human rights group said. Mr. Steevenson escaped unscathed.
The first drone killed eight children, ages 2 to 10, and three adults. Six more children were injured, the human rights group said. All of them were civilians.
A second drone fell near the gang’s headquarters, killing four gang members and injuring seven others, said Pierre Espérance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network.
A pregnant woman was among the dead, according to a person familiar with the case who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Jimmy Chérizier, a gang leader known as Barbecue, blamed the errant drone strike on the administration of Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, the prime minister who hired the contractors to take on gangs. He denied reports that gang members had been killed, saying only civilians had died.
He said 150 to 200 children had gathered in a park to receive cash gifts for Mr. Steevenson’s birthday.
“No armed person died, but many people in the civilian population are victims,” Mr. Chérizier said in a video posted on YouTube, where he showed gruesome photos of the dead children.
“The government of Fils-Aimé continues to massacre people in working-class neighborhoods,” he said.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that children had been left mangled.
Michelin Florville told the news agency the explosion had killed two of his grandchildren, ages 3 and 7, and his 32-year-old son.
“People were running right and left,” he was quoted saying.
Haitian gangs are known to use civilians as a shield to protect themselves from drones. Members of the task force operating the drones knew that it was Mr. Steevenson’s birthday and that civilians would be present, according to two people familiar with the episode who were not authorized to speak publicly.
A Haitian National Police spokesman declined to comment. Mr. Fils-Aimé’s office also declined to comment, citing an active investigation. A spokeswoman for the presidential council did not respond to a request for more information.
Mr. Prince, the American military defense contractor, did not respond to requests for comment. It was unclear whether his contractors or the Haitian police were responsible for Saturday’s attack.
Mr. Espérance said there was no accountability for civilians killed in drone strikes and added that while many gang members had been killed, no leaders had been hit.
“On the contrary, these leaders have grown more at ease and increasingly arrogant, even moving openly in convoys,” Mr. Espérance said.
Mr. Espérance said 11 civilians were killed in a different drone strike on Sept. 6 in downtown Port-au-Prince.
Still, many Haitians view the drone strikes as a much-needed last resort for a nation that is plagued by violence and feels abandoned by the international community.
The U.N. mandate for a multinational security force led by Kenya, which is widely viewed as a failure, expires next week, and that could lead to the mission’s departure from Haiti.
The United States and Panama have proposed a larger gang suppression force with at least 5,500 people, more than five times the size of the current deployment.
Despite the contributions of Kenya and other countries, “the mission currently lacks the mandate and the resources necessary to address the mounting scale of the challenge,” Christopher Landau, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, said on Monday in New York after meeting with Kenya’s president.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote soon on the proposal, but Russia and China, which have veto power, have expressed reservations.
Haiti spiraled into lawlessness after the 2021 assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse.
Gangs control principal roads in and out of the capital, and have launched major offensives against neighborhoods and police stations, hospitals and other buildings. Nearly 1.3 million people have fled their homes because of the violence in recent years, and nearly 4,000 people were killed in the first six months of the year.
David C. Adams contributed reporting from Florida, and André Paultre from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Frances Robles is a Times reporter covering Latin America and the Caribbean. She has reported on the region for more than 25 years.
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