About 60 percent of Haiti's capital is dominated by gangs whose violence have driven thousands to flee their homes, the United Nations humanitarian chief in the Caribbean nation said on Thursday.
Ulrika Richardson said nearly 20,000 people in the capital face "catastrophic famine-like conditions" as a cholera epidemic sweeps through Haiti.
Richardson painted a bleak picture of a country in a downward spiral, with half its population in desperate need of food assistance, while the death toll from cholera has risen to 283. He said about 12,000 people have been hospitalized with the disease since Oct. 2 and there are now a total of more than 14,000 suspected cases of cholera in eight of the country's 10 regions. He said all but 1,000 of the 20,000 starving Haitians are in the capital Port-au-Prince, mostly in the gang-controlled Cite Soleil slum. Richardson said insecurity had led to "mass displacement", especially in the capital, where 155,000 people had fled their homes. He told a press conference that the gangs are using "appalling levels of weaponized violence" to keep people in check, instill fear and punish them.
He said gang struggles for territory and their criminal actions are tearing society apart and increasing insecurity.
Political instability has boiled over in Haiti since the unsolved assassination of President Jovenal Moïse last year, which had faced protests calling for his resignation over corruption charges. Daily life in Haiti began to spiral out of control in September, hours after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said fuel subsidies would be lifted, causing prices to double. A gang led by Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, a former police officer, has blocked the Varreux refueling terminal, sparking a fuel crisis. The United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on Cherizier on October 21 and announced on November 2. 6 that his G9 gang federation was lifting the blockade.
But despite the availability of fuel, Richardson said, the security, political and humanitarian situation is deteriorating and he said "everyone is affected by the violence".
Henry and the Haitian Cabinet sent an urgent appeal on October 1. 7 calling on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send an international military force to address the violence in Haiti and alleviate its humanitarian crisis.
Richardson said members of the United Nations Security Council have since held intense discussions focusing on the "potential leadership and potential composition of such a force," but so far there has been no decision. "What's very important here is that gang violence needs to be addressed," he said.
As discussions continue in the Security Council, Richardson said the United Nations and many countries are helping Haiti's national police, "and they need a lot of support in terms of equipment and training."
In mid-November, the United Nations launched an emergency appeal for $145 million to respond to the cholera outbreak and growing famine in Haiti, but it has received only $23.5 million so far, he said.
Richardson said the United Nations will request $719 million for Haiti by 2023, double this year's amount, due to the dramatic deterioration in the humanitarian situation. On a positive note, he said, schools are reopening at about 53% across the country, especially in the south. Many of Haiti's 4 million children have not received an adequate education since the COVID-19 outbreak began in March 2020, she said.
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