Security Officers Cover Haiti’s Prime Minister with Gunfire as he Leaves Hospital, Government Says

FILE - Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille, right, sits next to Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy during a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, July 2, 2024, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

12:36 AM EDT, July 30, 2024

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Security officers had to fire shots Monday to cover Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille’s exit from a hospital in Port-au-Prince on Monday, the prime minister’s office said.

Conille was visiting Haiti’s largest hospital with the head of the national police, Normil Rameu, and some journalists when gunshots were heard outside the building, it said.

The statement said the prime minister had just finished recording an interview when the shots were heard. It said the security agents fired a few shots as the group exited.

“The PM and his team left the hospital in complete safety and were escorted back to his office,” the statement said.

No deaths or injuries were reported from the incident.

Earlier this month, Conille and Haiti’s police chief visited the same hospital after authorities announced that they had regained control of the facility from armed gangs. At that time, Conille described what was left of the ravaged hospital as a “war zone.”

The statement from Conille’s office Friday said the hospital remains under the control of the Haitian National Police and the U.N.-supported multinational security mission led by Kenyan police that is to help confront the criminal gangs that are causing widespread violence in Haiti.

Gangs have been looting, setting fires and destroying medical institutions and pharmacies in the capital, where they control up to 80% of the area.

Gunmen have also seized police stations, attacked the main international airport, forcing its closure for nearly three months, and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons.