PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Rampant gang violence has driven tens of thousands of people from Haitian capital Port-au-Prince where Friday charred bodies lay in the streets and residents battled a worsening increasing food security crisis.
The violence has triggered mass exodus following the latest clashes between police and heavily armed gangs. The media reported several bodies lying in the city center and in the suburb of Delmas. More dead were found lying in another suburb, Petion-Ville, according to the media reports.
The violence comes as the small, poor Caribbean nation continued to wait for the establishment of a promised transitional government meant to restore stability.
A spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Farhan Haq, said new figures show nearly five million people — about half the population — face “crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity” and that of these, some 1.6 million face “emergency” insecurity.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (UNIOM) said that more than 33,000 people have fled the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince in the last over 15 days.
An uneasy calm reigned in the capital after a day in which gang leader Ernst Julme alias “Ti Greg.”, was killed.
He had escaped from prison in early March in a mass attack organized by a gang.
Some roads remained blocked and many businesses, schools and government offices were closed.
Most Haitians seeking safety head to the Greater Southern Region, which currently hosts 116,000 displaced people.
According to the International Organization for Migration, the host regions do not have sufficient resources to cope with the massive migration flows from the capital.
Haiti has been wracked by violence for weeks, which began with an organized gang attack to demand the release of thousands of prisoners and the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Henry agreed to resign on March 11 and allow a transitional government to form.
But the talks are progressing slowly despite pressure from neighbouring Caribbean countries and the United States.
After years of escalating political and economic dysfunction, Haiti remains rudderless due to impasse.
