Haiti: information on the group Alqaeda, including objectives, membership, and activities; relation of the group with the political party Fanmi Lavalas (2016-May 2017)

Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa

1. General background and activities

Information on the Alqaeda group was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the information in the following paragraph was provided by an assistant professor of social work at the State University of New York in Brockport who wrote her PhD thesis on armed groups in Haiti. Her research has included "interviews and focus groups with [Alqaeda] over the years" and in August 2016, a member of the Alqaeda gang participated in a qualitative research interview with her team.

The Alqaeda group is an "armed urban gang" in Port-au-Prince. It is a minor gang and they "have only a very tenuous hold on the geographic territory they try to control." Alqaeda is "one of the least dangerous urban gangs in Port-au-Prince with few, if any, murders to their credit." It has no ties to the terrorist group in the Middle East. Its members were followed by the "Anti-Gang Unit" for a "period of time in the late 2000s" at the request of the United States, according to "a police officer who heard this second-hand," due to concerns they had some connections to a real terrorist organization. Since they have committed few important crimes, and "were not major players in the 2007 kidnapping epidemic," the "Anti-Gang Unit" stopped its surveillance. The gang is "engaged in crime which poses a threat to the local community's economy, political stability, and quality of life." Their principal source of income is "as paid demonstrators/rioters for the politician that backs them, as well as petty crime, some local drug sales (mostly of marijuana), and protection extortion rackets of local market women." They have not been accused of "any killings, serious beatings, or rapes related to their activities" and, "while this gang does exist and does use the name of a terrorist organisation, they have no ties to Islamic fundamentalism or related terrorist activity, nor are they a significant security concern within Port-au-Prince" (Assistant Professor 25 May 2017).

According to the English language version of the Haitian news website Haiti Libre, on 21 May 2017, the National Police of Haiti arrested "the alleged leader of the gang named 'Al Qaida,' specializing in robberies" (Haiti Libre 23 May 2017). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

The Assistant Professor indicated that, according to a police investigator she interviewed, the group "has been doing some robberies along national highway 1 from Port-au-Prince to Saint-Marc, targeting buses and cargo trucks." The police had arrested those involved, including "the ringleader of this particular activity, who is not the leader of the actual gang, as reported in the paper, but is still a leader who was responsible for organizing the highway robberies" (Assistant Professor 25 May 2017).

2. Composition

The information in the following paragraph was provided by the Assistant Professor in correspondence with the Research Directorate:

As of August 2016, the gang has 46 members and "[t]heir leader is a man named Michele, Michelet, or Michael who was deported from the United States in the early 2000s […] for not paying child support and for writing bad checks." Michelet was allegedly detained, " in the United States or in Haiti," with a member of the Liberty Seven, a group of men from Miami that was "the subject of an FBI sting investigation after one of the men clumsily tried to provide material support to the real Al Qaeda". Some members of the Delmas mosque told the Assistant Professor by phone that, "as far as they know, … [the Alqaeda group] is not really an Islamic group." Michelet says "he is a Rastafarian who also practices voodoo; he does not claim to be Muslim" (Assistant Professor 25 May 2017).

Corroborating information and information on the requirements and procedures to become a member of the Alqaeda group could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

3. Relationship with the Fanmi Lavallas

According to the Assistant Professor, this group is affiliated with a deputy senator who is "very anti-Lavala's" and who sometimes hires the group "to attend rallies and [to] do political organizing" (Assistant Professor 25 May 2017). However, without providing further detail, the same source stated that the "Anti-Gang Unit" does not consider the Alqaeda group as "being particularly anti-Lavalas" (Assistant Professor 25 May 2017). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Assistant Professor in Social Work, State University of New York at Brockport. 25 May 2017. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.

Haiti Libre. 23 May 2017. "Arrest of Gang Leader 'Boule'." [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti; Réseau national de défense des droits humains.

Internet sites, including: AlterPress; Amnesty International; Bureau des droits humains en Haiti; Challenges; ecoi.net; Factiva; Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme; International Crisis Group; Human Rights Watch; Freedom House; Haiti Press Network; Haïti Info; Journal of Haitian Studies; Le Nouvelliste; Le National; Radio Kiskeya; Radio métropole; Radio signal FM; Radio vision 2000; Radio-télévision Caraïbes; Radio-télévision Ginen; United Nations - Refworld.