(Reuters) – Heavy gunfire was seen near Haiti’s national palace in the capital Port-au-Prince on Friday, the EFE news agency reported, amid political unrest sparked by the prime minister’s absence minister Ariel Henry.
Haiti entered a state of emergency last Sunday after fighting intensified, armed gangs broke prisoners out of prisons and around ten thousand people were displaced while Henry was in Kenya seeking a deal for an international force to fight the Haitian gangs.
The United States earlier this week called on Haiti’s prime minister to speed up a political transition as armed gangs seek his ouster.
Henry, Haiti’s unelected interim leader, landed in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico on Tuesday.