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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaIn Haiti, a phone message can bring relief or agonyPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingBy Nomia IqbalBBC News, Cap-Haitien, HaitiFor the last month, Nun Neethoudjif Méléance has got used to a painful routine. She checks her phone daily to see if her family is still alive.The 22-year-old teacher lives in Cap-Haitien with her brother. But 10 members of her family including her father and other siblings are still in Port-au-Prince, where gangs are in control of about 80% of the capital.”They are living in a kind of open prison because they cannot go too far for safety reasons. They own a shop where they sell food but it’s difficult for them to buy products to sell.” The United Nations has described the situation in Haiti in cataclysmic terms, as a nation “close to collapse”.The impoverished Caribbean nation is facing a power vacuum filled by violent armed gangs, with illegal weapons continuing to pour into the country, driving it to the brink of disaster.Nun opens her messaging app. Her father has left a voice note saying there was a shooting near them this morning. They are OK but he feels broken. More than 30,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince, many braving long dangerous bus journeys along gang-controlled roads to make it here. She wishes her family would do that too but she says change is hard for them – they are very reluctant to leave their home and business.”I feel like I’m powerless because they are my parents,” she says, exasperated. “I cannot tell them what to do.”Haiti’s children caught in gang violence ‘cataclysm”I go to bed with an empty stomach’ – Haiti hunger spreadsPowerful gang leader demands role in Haiti talksUS guns pour into Haiti, fuelling surge in violenceNun’s young life in many ways reflects the overlapping crises of her country. Her mother was killed in the 2010 earthquake which claimed more than 100,000 lives. Her cousin was killed by a gang last year, with many family members unable to attend the funeral because of the escalating violence on the streets. She said her father did not want her to be a victim, and encouraged her to leave Port-au-Prince to pursue her ambitions. “My neighbour in Port-au-Prince had six or seven sons, and two of them ended up in gangs. The father was a church person, a Christian. The boys used to go to church and would sing. They had bright futures, but that didn’t stop them from falling into it.”This is a brutal reality for many children. A new UN report says more than 1,500 people have been killed by gang violence in the first three months of this year. The gangs recruit and abuse young boy and girls, the report says, sometimes killing those who try to escape.”People ask why am I in Haiti?” says Nun. “Well, you either stay and you fight, or you go and have some peace.”Many are choosing the latter. Cap-Haitien’s airport reopened earlier this week where dozens of people queued at the small departures entrance. Clutching key documents, they were ready to exit as quickly as possible.Baptiste Moudeché, 23, was heading to Florida for the first time with his younger sister. He made the journey from Les Gonaïves, Haiti’s fourth largest city, which has been marred by gang violence for decades. His parents remain there for the moment. “I’m leaving because of insecurity issues and troubles. We’ve been living in a very frustrating and stressful period of time with my family.” He doesn’t know when he’ll return.”My dream is for Haiti to finally have a normal government that is really thinking about the wellbeing of the nation,” said Baptiste. “A place where human rights are fully respected and where any young person can progress.”Image source, EPAImage caption, Protesters gathered outside the Canadian embassy on Friday demanding that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) respect the constitutionThe country is now waiting to see exactly who will take on the gangs in the fight for power. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, deeply reviled and unelected, promised to step down once a Presidential Transitional Council was formally established. Its full line up has yet to be revealed, but last week, in its first statement, it pledged to restore order and democracy to a nation that’s at a crucial turning point in history.But also crucial is winning the trust of Haitians to achieve that. Many are profoundly sceptical of a solution proposed by the international community. Even though the council looks to be made up of Haitian leaders, it’s been created by Caricom, an intergovernmental organisation consisting of 20 nations located in the Caribbean. Many Haitians view it as “foreign interference”.The gangs who are currently Haiti’s de facto rulers have also dismissed the council. One of the country’s most powerful gang leaders Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier said he would consider a ceasefire: “If the international community comes with a detailed plan, we can sit together and talk, but they do not impose on us what we should decide.”It will be hard though to convince many Haitians to accept violent gangsters as future political leaders. Image caption, Yvrose Pierre, mayor of Cap-Haitien, says gangs “don’t have any compassion”Yvrose Pierre, the first elected female mayor of Cap-Haitien, said: “When gangs attack they are terrorising people and they don’t have any compassion, they just kill. And we can’t let that happen, If it’s going to be someone who’s going to be killed it’s going to be them, not us.”About five million people in Haiti – including one in two children – are on the verge of famine, according to the charity Save the Children. Ms Pierre feels the country is in its death throes.”The population is dying because it’s the country which is dying. When the port is dysfunctional, the main airport is dysfunctional, the hospital is dysfunctional – people will definitely die.”My dream for my country is to see Haitians pulling themselves together to first resolve this specific crisis. My dream is to see the Haiti I was used to as a kid.”Many Haitians feel similar pride. This Easter weekend amid the backdrop of violence, the country marked its first major holiday in relative peace.While Port-au-Prince avoided any processions, thousands of worshippers in Cap-Haitien walked the narrow and dusty streets in smart white dresses and buttoned shirts singing hymns. Some had their arms outstretched towards the sky in an act of praise to God.A group of women gathered outside a Catholic high school to watch a re-enactment of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. One woman told us this Easter was bittersweet: “I don’t feel good when I see Haiti is perishing. Especially when I see my brothers and sisters dying from bullets in Port-au-Prince.”Another said: “I do think only a miracle can now help us.”Additional reporting by Morgan Gisholt Minard. Production by Alendy AlmonorRelated TopicsHaitiPort-au-PrinceMore on this storyHaiti’s children caught in gang violence ‘cataclysm’Published3 days agoUS guns pour into Haiti, fuelling surge in violencePublished4 days ago’Only God can change this place’: Haitians see no end to spiralling violencePublished19 MarchTop StoriesKing greets well-wishers after Easter servicePublished5 hours agoBarrage of Russian attacks aims to cut Ukraine’s lightsPublished4 hours agoIs my family still alive? The daily question for HaitiansPublished1 hour agoFeatures’Finding out I was autistic saved my life’In pictures: Easter celebrations around the worldWhere workers are exploited to harvest an everyday ingredientHow has cancer changed King Charles’s duties?’I was mutilated at 16 but I won’t let it define me’The FSB bicycle assassin Putin wants back in RussiaAphantasia: Why I cannot see my children in my mindSeven bills going up and one going down in AprilJeffrey Donaldson: From the White House to Antrim police stationElsewhere on the BBCOne of the most talented bands to never make it…Why did trailblazers Microdisney fail to achieve the commercial success they deserved?AttributioniPlayerWill this elite boarding school fit around them?Five black inner-city teens must leave their old worlds behind…AttributioniPlayer’A few people laughed, a few cried, most were silent’The extraordinary rise and fall of the inventor of the atomic bombAttributioniPlayerFancy a film tonight?There’s something for everyone on BBC iPlayerAttributioniPlayerMost Read1Barrage of Russian attacks aims to cut Ukraine’s lights2Stop stealing from Air Force One, journalists told3King greets well-wishers after Easter service4Actor Chance Perdomo dies in motorcycle accident5Election candidate’s fingertip bitten off by dog6The FSB bicycle assassin Putin wants back in Russia7Turkish opposition set to win battle for Istanbul8’Finding out I was autistic saved my life’9Arsenal wanted Maanum to be ‘a champion’ after collapseAttributionSport10Beyoncé album is missing tracks on vinyl, fans say
[ad_1] Haiti has endured crisis after crisis. Now the UN says the Caribbean nation is close to collapse.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaPutin wants Berlin assassin Vadim Krasikov, but prisoner swap is murkyPublished10 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, BellingcatImage caption, A court found Vadim Krasikov was acting under Kremlin orders when he executed a Chechan seperatist in Berlin in 2019.By Jake LaphamBBC NewsIt is now one year since American journalist Evan Gershkovich was detained on a reporting trip in Russia. His best hope of release may be Vadim Krasikov, who is sitting in a German jail, convicted of an execution that was ordered by the Kremlin.In the summer of 2013, a Moscow restaurant owner was gunned down in the Russian capital. A hooded man jumped off a bike and shot his victim twice before fleeing.Six years later, an exiled Chechen commander, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was murdered in a busy Berlin park in eerily similar circumstances, shot by a man on a bike with a silenced Glock 26 in broad daylight. The assailant was arrested after dumping a pistol and wig in the River Spree close to the Reichstag, the building housing the German parliament.A passport bearing the name “Vadim Sokolov” was found on the Berlin assassin, but authorities quickly concluded that was not his name after all.The bald, strongly built man they had arrested was actually Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national with links to the FSB, the Russian security service – and the prime suspect in the 2013 murder in Moscow.In a recent interview with US TV talk show host Tucker Carlson, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin appeared to confirm reports that his country was seeking the release of the “patriot” Krasikov in exchange for American journalist Evan Gershkovich. This month marked one year since Mr Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was detained in Russia on espionage charges that are denied by him, his newspaper and the US government.Mr Gershkovich isn’t the only American in a Russian jail whose fate could be entwined with Krasikov’s. Former US Marine Paul Whelan and US-Russian citizen Alsu Kurmasheva are also detained in Russia on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.Image source, Reuters/EPAImage caption, Paul Whelan (L) has been in detention since 2018, Alsu Kurmasheva (C) since October last year and Evan Gershkovich since last MarchEven the late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was serving a 19-year prison sentence in Russia, was said to be part of a swap involving Krasikov before he died, according to his allies. Following the Russian election, President Putin said he had agreed to release Navalny in return “for some people” held in the West, but the White House said that was the first it had heard of any such deal.If President Putin’s price stays the same, it means the most viable way of securing the release of the detained Americans would be a complex prisoner swap for Krasikov needing the cooperation of Germany, the US and Russia.Speaking to the BBC, German politician Roderich Kiesewetter said the deal would force Berlin into “hostage diplomacy”. So why does Putin seem so desperate to get Krasikov back?State-sanctioned killingThe first clues of a possible Kremlin hand in the Berlin murder come from Krasikov’s background – or rather, the lack of one. Documents obtained by the Bellingcat investigative website show he was wanted over the 2013 Moscow murder. However, two years later, the arrest warrant was withdrawn and the “Vadim Krasikov” identity seemingly vanished into thin air.That is when “Vadim Sokolov”, age 45, appeared. In 2015 he got a passport, and, in 2019, a tax identification number. A German court concluded that this documentation could only be sanctioned by the Kremlin, and therefore that Vadim Krasikov had state support for the Berlin murder. “Russian state authorities ordered the accused to liquidate the victim,” a German presiding judge said after sentencing Krasikov to life in prison. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Germany expelled two Russian diplomats in response to the murder of Zelimkhan KhangoshviliHis victim, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was a Chechen rebel commander between 2000 and 2004, when Chechnya was fighting a war of independence against Russia. To Western observers, Mr Khangoshvili seemed likely to be part of a string of Moscow-ordered assassinations of Chechen exiles in Europe and the Middle East. The Kremlin denied orchestrating the Berlin murder, and dismissed the verdict against Krasikov as “politically motivated”. However, in his Tucker Carlson interview, President Putin appeared to make an admission when he said negotiations were under way for an exchange involving a Russian “patriot” who had “eliminated a bandit” in a European capital. Ulrich Lechte, who sits on the German government’s foreign affairs committee, told the BBC that President Putin’s desire to retrieve Krasikov is “a clear admission of guilt and shows how unscrupulously and unchallenged Russia has been able to act in our country”. FSB’s contract with assassins Vadim Krasikov belonged to the highly secretive ‘Vympel’ unit of Russia’s secret service, the FSB, according to prosecutors at his trial.”Its official remit is counter-terrorism operations at home, but it has in many ways returned to its original roots, as a unit tasked with covert ‘wet-work’ – sabotage and assassination – abroad,” Putin historian and Russian security expert Mark Galeotti told the BBC.Krasikov personally met Putin at a target shooting range while serving with Vympel, owned a BMW and Porsche, and travelled for work regularly, according to an interview his brother-in-law gave The Insider.An association between Krasikov and the FSB would provide one explanation for why Vladimir Putin, a former foreign intelligence officer himself, would be willing to hand over a prisoner of the value of Evan Gershkovich. Russia rejects offer to release jailed reporter Evan Gershkovich, US saysUS citizens jailed by Putin left hostage to a dealRussia again extends detention of US journalistBut Mark Galeotti said a potential deal says more about Russia’s social contract with agents abroad than the value of Krasikov individually. “It [Russia] says ‘look, if you do get caught, we will get you back, one way or the other. It may take a long time, but we will get you back’,” Mr Galeotti said. “That’s very important for getting people to put themselves in potentially very dangerous situations.” But whether Krasikov will ever be allowed back to Russia is ultimately up to the German government. The BBC approached three members of the government’s foreign affairs committee, all of whom oppose releasing Krasikov. Ulrich Lechte, whose Free Democratic Party is part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, insisted that Germany “must not do Russia this favour”. “This is a kind of amnesty and sends the political signal that Russia can commit further murders on our territory, which will then be released and thus remain unpunished,” Mr Lechte told the BBC. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Politicians on Germany’s foreign affairs committee say Zelimkhan Khangoshvili’s murder was “state terrorism””It must not be allowed to prevail that foreign citizens are arbitrarily arrested in order to abuse them for a prisoner exchange.” Jürgen Hardt, from the Christian Democrats, said he “didn’t see any political support” for rumoured prisoner swaps involving Krasikov. Even if there was political will in Berlin to release Krasikov, the legal mechanics which could make that happen are murky. He could be pardoned by the president, or deported to serve the remainder of his sentence in Russia – something that almost certainly wouldn’t happen in light of Putin’s comments.One case in point is the Russian “Merchant of Death”, Viktor Bout, an infamous arms dealer released from US custody as part of a prisoner exchange with US basketball star Brittney Griner. Bout has now pivoted to politics and won a seat at a local election in Russia.Image source, EPAImage caption, A protest against the Putin regime was held in Berlin during the Russian election.Nicola Bier, a German lawyer focusing on extradition law, told the BBC there is “no legal mechanism that is really designed for this particular situation”, so any move would be highly controversial and political.Anti-Kremlin political activist Bill Browder is now compiling a list of more than 50 Russian prisoners in Western countries who could be used as bargaining chips to free activists and journalists detained in Russia.Browder hopes the effort could help release British-Russian journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years in jail for treason for speaking out against the war in Ukraine, as well as Evan Gershkovich.Asked by the BBC whether his campaign played into “hostage diplomacy”, Browder conceded it is “far from ideal”, but necessary to save lives.After Alexei Navalny’s death, Browder said, “it’s clear that other hostages are at risk of dying”.Related TopicsGermanyRussiaVladimir PutinMore on this storyNavalny was to be freed in prison swap – colleaguePublished26 FebruaryRussians expelled over hitman’s Berlin killingPublished15 December 2021US citizens jailed by Putin left hostage to a dealPublished20 December 2023Top StoriesKing to appear in public at Easter church servicePublished1 hour agoWatch: King to attend Easter church service at WindsorPublished7 minutes agoStability at Stormont my priority, says O’NeillPublished14 hours agoFeaturesWhere workers are exploited to harvest an everyday ingredientHow has cancer changed King Charles’s duties?’I was mutilated at 16 but I won’t let it define me’The Papers: ‘E coli Boat Race’ and ‘Euros on terror alert’In pictures: Pope leads Easter celebrationsThe FSB bicycle assassin Putin wants back in RussiaAphantasia: Why I cannot see my children in my mindSeven bills going up and one going down in AprilJeffrey Donaldson: From the White House to Antrim police stationElsewhere on the BBCOne of the most talented bands to never make it…Why did trailblazers Microdisney fail to achieve the commercial success they deserved?AttributioniPlayerWill this elite boarding school fit around them?Five black inner-city teens must leave their old worlds behind…AttributioniPlayer’A few people laughed, a few cried, most were silent’The extraordinary rise and fall of the inventor of the atomic bombAttributioniPlayerFancy a film tonight?There’s something for everyone on BBC iPlayerAttributioniPlayer](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/1BCA/production/_133041170_putin-index-getty.jpg)
