Haiti gang boss hints at possible ceasefire – but warns foreign forces they will be treated as ‘invaders’

Published

1 year ago

March 29, 2024

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The head of one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs, and the de-facto head of a consortium of gangs that have brought Port-au-Prince to a standstill has told Sky News he would consider a ceasefire and talks on the political future of the country if they were included.

But Jimmy Cherizier, known universally as “Barbecue”, has predicted that more violence is imminent, adding that a recent halt in the fighting is purely a technical pause.

“There is nothing calm, but when you’re fighting you have to know when to advance and when to retreat,” he said.

“I think every day that passes we are coming up with a new strategy so we can advance, but there’s nothing calm.

“In the days that are coming things will get worse than they are now…” he told me sitting in an alleyway in his stronghold.

Political parties in Haiti, overseen by CARICOM, the Caribbean economic union of countries, are trying to form a transitional council that will take over the running of the country after the Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is currently in the United States, stands down.

Cherizier has said they “respect CARICOM a lot” but dismissed the process as unrepresentative of the needs of the ordinary people and a smokescreen to allow “corrupt politicians” and what he calls “corrupt oligarchs” to continue running the country.

The only way the situation can move on, he insisted, is if the peace process includes him and his gang coalition.

“If the international community comes with a detailed plan where we can sit together and talk, but they do not impose on us what we should decide, I think that the weapons could be lowered,” he added.

“We don’t believe in killing people and massacring people, we believe in dialogue, we have weapons in our hand and it’s with the weapons that we must liberate this country.”

Haiti has been paralysed by weeks of violence that has seen whole districts burnt to the ground, tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes, while murder, rape, and gun battles are a daily occurrence.

Port-au-Prince is 80% controlled by the gangs and normal life has virtually stopped.

To get to Barbecue we were guided down a now-deserted motorway pockmarked with burnt out sections of tarmac and abandoned and burnt-out vehicles.

It’s one of the main economic highways in the capital, and now totally under his control.

We were told that their snipers were watching us, and to drive slowly, and follow our guide’s every move.

We then turned off the main road and drove through a warren of backstreets, to a meeting point where we were greeted by a group of armed gunmen in balaclavas.

I’ve met Barbecue before, and I knew where we were going, but everything was different this time – that deserted highway was free flowing the last time I was here. Now it is a barricaded battlefield.

Another difference is that last time we met, he wasn’t too keen on us filming his armed guards, but now he positively wanted us to see them, and was carrying two weapons himself.

The reason is simple. He is at war, and he wants the authorities and his enemies here to know that it is a war.

He’s not responsible for all the violence sweeping across Haiti’s capital but, be under no doubt, he is at the centre of it and his fighters are never far away.

Barbecue sees himself as a revolutionary for the people, and he rails against corrupt politicians and oligarchs.

He has dismissed all the efforts under way here to form a transitional council that will govern Haiti.

“We believe in dialogue, we are for dialogue, but this political class that is here now is not here for dialogue, the reason is that they don’t carry Haiti in their hearts the same way that we do.

“The political class say they are excluding bandits, that men with guns are not in it, but this is a way for them to revive the same system, because the system has reached its end.

“The divide between rich and poor is too vast, in the whole world there is a divide between rich and poor, but the way it’s done in Haiti is indecent,” he told me.

He suggested though, that he is open to some form of negotiations as long as they’re represented.

“We are ready for all solutions as long as Haitians are at the table, we are ready to sit and talk with everyone, because we are not proud of what is happening in this country…”

I asked him if he accepts that if they want to have talks, they’ll have to put down their weapons.

“The weapons will be lowered when they need to be lowered,” he replied.

“At the moment we haven’t got to the point where we should put down our weapons, because the people here don’t want to listen to reason.

“We have been hearing about dialogue for more than two or three years.

“We’ve been asking for everyone to sit down and talk to the people with guns, and no one heard us. Today we have reached the point where we are advancing and our objective is clear.”

Surrounded by well-armed gunmen, Barbecue took me for a walk around some of his newly acquired territory.

He took us through the roadblocks of buses they’ve put in place to stop police raids here.

He says the last major police assault was eight days ago and he’s not sure when there will be another.

Inside his territory, despite the poverty, life is relatively peaceful and organised.

Barbecue said we should see food distribution taking place inside his community.

And unlike what we have seen in other parts of Port-au-Prince, the queues for the food Barbecue gets brought in are orderly.

The essential difference is the people waiting in line know there’s enough food and water supplies for the whole community. They just need to wait.

The issue here though is whether a poor area, controlled by a gang boss, is getting better treatment than poor areas controlled by the government.

This is the source of Barbecue’s strength.

Cherizier, a former policeman, sees himself as a sort of revolutionary freedom fighter in the style of Che Guevara, and a Robin Hood type figure for his community.

For much of the international community though, and many in Haiti, he is a criminal gang leader.

Watched on by his well-armed and battle-hardened soldiers, Barbecue says plans for an international force led by Kenya to impose peace in Port-au-Prince will lead to more violence, whoever is in charge.

When I met him last in January 2023 I asked about foreign forces. He said at the time innocent people would die if they came in. I wondered if he still held the same view.

“I believe that just like I said, if the Kenyans come, first of all they will come to commit massacres in the poor communities, because the oligarchs and the corrupt politicians are going to tell them where to go on the pretext that they’re coming to eliminate gangs and bandits, and they’re going to enter the poor communities to commit massacres,” he said.

“We at this moment who have weapons in our hands are not going to allow this.

“It’s evolving. If the Kenyan military or Kenyan police come, whatever, I will consider them as aggressors, we will consider them as invaders, and we do not have to collaborate with any invaders that have come to walk over our independence.”

Barbecue is not only leader of the G9 group of gangs, he is now also the leader of Viv Ansanm (Living Together) revolutionary group, a newly formed gang alliance.

He said he’s trying to reign the more violent gangs in, and that they need to change their ways or risk losing their revolution.

“Viv Ansanm is a collective leadership – I can’t force them. If I use force against them it will be an endless fight, we will never be able to accomplish what we want to against the people who have created this situation,” he explained.

“But every day every day we talk seven or eight times on the phone, and each time we hear on the news that they kidnap someone or something bad is done.

“I always call the guys on the phone to see how together we can correct this, and even they who have been doing it are starting to be conscious that this is bad and that they’re not going to do it anymore.

“But me I just assure myself that I continue talking to them for them to stop and not continue to do it.

“I think in time we will find a solution with a country where there are no kidnappings, without raping and killing people, and in the end we will chase the corrupt politicians and the corrupt oligarchs out of the country.”

As we were getting ready to leave Cherizier paused to fly a kite.

It’s an early Easter tradition here. He laughed and joked with his people. He’s an unlikely hero but here in his territory he is.

In truth no ordinary society needs people like Barbecue, but Haiti isn’t normal.

How or when it achieves normality is impossible to predict.

World

Who are some of the victims named following the Air India plane crash?

Published

5 hours ago

June 14, 2025

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Who are some of the victims named following the Air India plane crash?

Tributes have been paid to victims of the Air India plane crash, including a couple and their three children and a man returning home after scattering his wife’s ashes.

Flight 171 was carrying 242 people when it struck a medical college hostel less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India, bound for Gatwick on Thursday.

Among those on board were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian, the airline said.

It has confirmed 241 of those on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were killed in the crash, with just one survivor – a British man from Leicester. Twenty-nine people on the ground were also killed, taking the total number of victims to 270, officials have said.

Tributes to those who died in the worst aviation crash in a decade are now being shared.

Arjun Patoliya

The 37-year-old had been to India to fulfil his wife Bharti’s “final wish” to scatter her ashes in her hometown in Gujarat, after she died following a battle with cancer.

He was returning home to his young daughters in north London, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the girls.

It says: “In a span of just 18 days, two young sisters – only 4 and 8 years old – have lost both of their beloved parents.”

Dr Prateek Joshi and his family

Dr Joshi, a radiologist at the Royal Derby Hospital, was on the flight with his wife, Dr Komi Vyas, and their three children, Mirayal, Nakul and Pradyut.

In a post on Facebook, Derby Hindu Temple said: “We pray to Lord Shiva to grant eternal peace to the departed souls and to give strength to the bereaved family to bear this immense loss.”

Dr Joshi’s colleague Dr Rajeev Singh described him as “a wonderful man, friend, husband and father, and an exceptional radiologist who was highly respected in his field”.

“It is hard to accept that a man with such a passion for life, and his beautiful young family, have been taken in this way,” his statement continued.

“His passing has left a profound void, not only in his professional contributions but in the warmth and spirit that he gave to the world every day.”

Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter

The family of three from Gloucester were “widely loved and deeply respected”, their family said in a statement issued through their imam.

Mr Nanabawa ran a recruitment firm and Ms Vorajee volunteered at a local Islamic school and was a director for an organisation promoting understanding of Islam, Imam Abdullah Samad said.

Their daughter, Sara Nanabawa, was four years old.

The imam, who is headteacher at the school Sara had just started attending, told Sky News: “She had a smile like the rays of the sun, she would light up the room.

“She was exactly what her parents would have wanted her to be. She took a lot of good qualities from her parents. Staff at the school are absolutely devastated.”

He said of her parents: “They were widely loved and deeply respected. His quiet generosity, her warmth and kindness, and their daughter’s bright, joyful spirit made a lasting impact on everyone who knew them.”

Mariam and Javed Ali Syed and their two children

The couple and their two children – five-year-old Zayn and four-year-old Amani – were returning from a holiday in India, Ms Ali Syed’s sister-in-law told the Telegraph.

The mother-of-two reportedly worked for Harrods for a decade while Mr Ali Syed is reported to have worked at a London hotel.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Yasmine Hassan said of the couple’s two children: “They are so small, they are five and four. And it’s just thinking how scared they must have been.”

Renjitha Gopakumaran Nair

The 40-year-old nurse and mother of two worked at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

A Facebook page for nurses from India said she was originally from Thiruvalla, Kerala, and touched “countless lives with her care and compassion”.

Ajay Kumar Ramesh

Mr Ramesh was seated in a different row to his brother, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose survival is being hailed as a miracle.

Speaking outside the family home in Leicester, Jay, a relative of the brothers, said Vishwash asked about Ajay when he contacted his father after the tragedy.

Jay said: “After the crash, he spoke to his dad worrying about his brother saying, ‘Where’s Ajay’?”

Raxa Modha, her daughter-in-law and infant grandson

A member of Raxa Modha’s family has told Sky News she was in India for a religious ceremony after the death of her husband two months ago.

She had travelled with her daughter-in-law Yasha and infant grandson Rudra.

All three of them were from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

Sisters Heer and Dhir Baxi

The siblings, both in their early twenties, were returning home to London after surprising their grandmother for her birthday.

Their cousin Ishan Baxi, who lives in Ahmedabad, said both women had an “amazing aura” and wanted to “roam the world”.

He said: “I am unable to control my tears even now also just because I was close to them, you just imagine what emotions parents are going through right now and think about guilt the grandma would feel right now.

“I just want God to bless those souls, all dreams, promises, aspirations vanished in seconds.”

Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek

The couple, who ran a spiritual wellness centre in Ramsgate, Kent, filmed themselves laughing and joking at the airport just moments before boarding the plane.

The former editor of This Morning has paid tribute to Fiongal, who appeared on the show earlier this year, and his partner.

Martin Frizell said on Instagram: “I remember his visit to the studio in January, he was passionate about auras and although I’m a sceptical sort, his vibrancy and sheer enthusiasm won folk over.”

Adam and Hasina Taju, and Altafhusen Patel

Adam Taju, 72, and his wife Hasina, 70, were flying with their son-in-law Altafhusen, the couple’s granddaughter told the BBC.

World

Iran claims it has downed two Israeli jets – as it fires missiles in response to Friday’s attacks

Published

5 hours ago

June 14, 2025

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Iran claims it has downed two Israeli jets - as it fires missiles in response to Friday's attacks

Iran claims it has shot down two Israeli jets and that its response to Friday night’s attacks on nuclear and military infrastructure has begun.

The reports emerged as smoke was seen rising from Tel Aviv as Iran launched missiles at the Israeli city.

Air raid sirens had been heard across Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as the missiles neared Israel.

Footage has shown Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system – which uses radars to detect and intercept short-range rockets, missiles and drones – stopping Iranian missiles from striking the city.

However, video also suggests some missiles made it through. According to Israeli medics, a total of 34 people were taken to hospital in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

In a statement at around 1:50am on Saturday local time (11:50pm on Friday UK time), the Israel Defense Forces said: “In the past hour, dozens of missiles have been launched from Iran toward the State of Israel. Some of the missiles were intercepted.

“Search and Rescue forces are currently operating in a number of locations across the country in which reports of fallen projectiles were received.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian Army had earlier said in a statement that its “defence forces successfully hit and destroyed two F-35 fighter jets belonging to the zionist entity, in addition to a large number of small drones”.

“The fate of the two fighter pilots remains unknown and is being investigated,” the statement added.

Follow live: Israel-Iran conflict updates

The escalation in the region comes after Israel launched a huge attack on Iran on Friday, which it says was aimed at degrading the country’s nuclear ambitions and weakening its military.

Israel was able to target key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.

It said it airstrikes were necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.

As Israel braced itself for a retaliation, the IRNA state news agency in Iran confirmed this evening that the country’s response had begun.

It came as a reporter with the Iranian Tasnim news agency said missiles had been fired from Shiraz and Isfahan in Iran towards Israel.

Sky News correspondent Mark Stone, who used to be based in Jerusalem, has said Iran is trying to “overwhelm the Iron Dome defence system, which has to be manually reloaded again and again”.

He added: “[The Iron Dome] can be overwhelmed. We saw a number of instances in the videos a moment ago where it was clearly overwhelmed and some of those ballistic missiles hit targets in Tel Aviv.”

Three American officials have told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that the US military helped Israel down some Iranian missiles this evening.

As the barrage of missiles was fired at Israel, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote on X: “The Zionist regime (Israel) will not remain unscathed from the consequences of its crime.

“The Iranian nation must be guaranteed that our response will not be half-measured,” he said, adding Iran will “inflict heavy blows” on Israel.

Mr Khamenei also said that Israel has initiated a war and that Tehran will not allow it to conduct “hit and run” attacks without grave consequences.

It came before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Iranians to stand up to the regime in Tehran and help Israel “clear the path for you to achieve your freedom”.

In a video released during Iran’s missile attack on Israel, Mr Netanyahu said Israel had taken out a “large portion” of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and its “most significant enrichment facility”.

“More is on the way,” he added. “The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them. It has never been weaker. This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard.”

The Israeli military has told people they can now leave air raid shelters but must stay near them in case of further attacks.

The Israel Defence Forces issued instructions earlier this evening telling residents to stay in shelters and minimise movement in open areas.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump have agreed the mounting conflict between Iran and Israel should be resolved by “diplomacy and dialogue”.

The two leaders spoke on Friday evening, as western nations began a diplomatic flurry to calm the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Sir Keir earlier urged Mr Netanyahu to de-escalate and work towards a “diplomatic resolution”.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump urged Iran to quickly reach an agreement on curbing its nuclear program as Israel vowed to continue its bombardment of the country.

Mr Trump framed the volatile moment in the Middle East as a possible “second chance” for Iran’s leadership to avoid further destruction “before there is nothing left and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”

The US president had urged Mr Netanyahu not to attack Iran.

The two leaders had what was described as a heated 40-minute exchange by telephone last Monday.

Speaking just hours before the attack, Mr Trump said he feared such action would destroy US hopes of an agreement with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme.

World

What you need to know as Israel launches strikes against Iran

Published

5 hours ago

June 14, 2025

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What you need to know as Israel launches strikes against Iran

Israel has launched a major attack on Iran and declared a state of emergency over retaliation fears.

The operation, called “Rising Lion”, killed a number of Iranian commanders, scientists and the head of the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, according to Iranian state media.

Iran launched more than 100 drones towards Israel after the country vowed retaliation, an Israeli military spokesperson said.

Israel-Iran live: Follow the latest updates

Here is what we know so far.

What has happened?

Shortly after 1am UK time on Friday, Israel launched what it called “pre-emptive strikes” against targets in Iran.

Explosions were heard in Iran’s capital, Tehran, while Iranian state TV broadcast footage of blown-out walls, burning roofs and shattered windows in residential buildings across the city.

It reported that blasts had set the Revolutionary Guard’s headquarters on fire.

Iranian local media site, Nournews, reported 78 people were killed and 329 were injured in the strikes in Tehran.

Bracing for retaliation, Israel closed its airspace and said it was calling up tens of thousands of soldiers to protect the country’s borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat”.

The Israeli military said all of its pilots involved in the strike on Iran returned home unharmed, as the country’s armed forces continued assessing the results of the operation.

Flights around the Middle East were cancelled as a result of the strikes, with passengers in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Iran and Dubai facing delays.

Where and who was targeted?

In a video announcing the military operation, Mr Netanyahu said the strikes hit Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site, the Natanz atomic facility.

An IDF spokesperson said the site has been “significantly harmed” adding the strikes hit an underground facility and other crucial infrastructure.

The international atomic watchdog (IAEA) said it was in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels at the Natanz facility – which is in the central Isfahan province – adding later that there had been no increase in levels.

The IDF said the strikes eliminated several senior military commanders of the Iranian regime.

Six nuclear scientists were also killed, according to Iranian state media.

Scroll through the slider below to see who was killed and what we know about them. For more information, read our full explainer here.

Why has Israel launched strikes now?

The attack comes amid rising international fears over Iran’s nuclear programme, with the UN watchdog warning earlier this week that the country is breaking its obligations for the first time in 20 years.

Israel and the US have long feared that Iran is plotting to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran has repeatedly denied this and insists its programme is for civilian purposes – to generate energy.

Mr Netanyahu claimed on Friday that if Iran wasn’t stopped, “it could produce a nuclear weapon within a very short time”.

He went further to claim Iran had in recent years developed enough highly-enriched uranium for “nine atom bombs”.

US and Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s escalating uranium enrichment programme in Oman on Sunday.

Israel previously launched strikes on Iran in October 2024.

Sky News’ Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said last year’s strikes eliminated much of Iran’s air defences, giving the Israeli air force some freedom of movement in Iran’s skies.

But Iran has been rebuilding those defences, Bunkall adds, so Israel’s window to operate was closing.

Has Iran responded?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, warned of “severe punishment”, claiming Israel targeted “residential areas”.

“In the enemy’s attacks, a number of commanders and scientists were martyred. Their successors and colleagues will immediately continue their duties,” he said in a statement reported by the Tasnim news agency.

Hours after Israeli strikes, Iran launched more than 100 drones in retaliation, an Israel Defence Force (IDF) spokesperson said.

The IDF confirmed Israel had begun intercepting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) which it said had been fired from Iran.

A second volley of more than 100 drones were then launched towards Israel, which will take several hours to make the journey.

Strikes over the past year

Tensions between Iran and Israel have boiled over in the past year.

Iran has backed, funded and trained several proxy groups across the Middle East region to varying degrees, including Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and a number of other factions based in Syria and Iraq.

Israel accuses Iran of backing militant attacks against it, while Iran says Israel has carried out a number of killings of Iranian officials and scientists – which Israel has not commented on. 

Below are some of the attacks that have happened since April 2024:

How has the world reacted?

US President Donald Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform that he gave Iran “chance after chance” to make a deal, but they “couldn’t get it done”.

He wrote: “I told them [Iran] it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it.

“Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”

Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, said earlier that America was not involved in the attack and warned Iran not to retaliate against American interests in the region.

Mr Rubio added that America believes the strikes are necessary for Israel’s self defence.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged “all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently”.

Read analysis from Sky correspondents:
The consequences for the region could be massive
Israel defied Trump and chose to act now

The UK is not currently helping to defend Israel from Iranian drone attacks, Sky News’ security and defence editor, Deborah Haynes, said. The government will, however, hold an emergency COBRA meeting on Friday, Sky News understands.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said it is paying close attention to the attacks and called on the relevant parties to act in ways that will lead to regional peace and stability.

Russia called the Israeli strikes “unprovoked” and in “breach of the United Nations charter”.

In the Middle East, the UAE condemned Israel’s strikes against Iran “in the strongest terms” and expressed “deep concern” over the repercussions on regional security. Saudi Arabia also condemned the Israeli attack.

Neighbouring Qatar called Israel’s attack a “flagrant violation” of Iran’s sovereignty and security.