Escalating and deadly gang violence since early May has contributed to the increase in food insecurity for more than one million people in Port-au-Prince, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said.

"The situation is already spiraling out of control," said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP Haiti Director. "Large parts of Port-au-Prince are controlled by gangs; the data we have shows that the situation over the last 90 days has worsened... based on the information we have, we already had a million people in Port-au-Prince who were suffering from acute food insecurity Phase 3 of the integrated food security Phase Classification (IPC**)"

Since July 7, violent clashes in Cité Soleil between the coalition of the G-9 gangs (the aggressor) and G-Pèp a rival coalition of the G-9, an area where hundreds of thousands of poor people live, sows terror And the dead.

"The background is gang violence, people can't work, people can't sell their products and at the same time food prices are going up," Bauer said. Recalling that Haiti imports 70% of its food needs and, as elsewhere in the world, suffers from the global food and energy crisis following the war in Ukraine.

Inflation in Haiti reached nearly 28% in May 2022 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37101-haiti-economy-inflation-explodes-government-forecasts.html "Food inflation was 52%, according to the Haitian government and food basket analysis," Bauer said.

To continue to ensure that the poorest Haitians receive assistance outside the capital, the WFP uses maritime routes rather than trucks targeted by gangs "The WFP has set up a maritime service to circumvent the gangs that are around Port-au-Prince. We send the trucks to the port, they board a ferry chartered by the WFP and that ship goes either south or north, to ensure that humanitarian aid continues to reach all Haitians, wherever they are.

** IPC Phase 3: Acute Food and Livelihoods Crisis

Acute and critical insufficiency of access to food with severe and unusual malnutrition and accelerated depletion of livelihood assets which, if the situation continues, will cause the population to fall into the Stage 4 or 5 and/or will likely result in chronic poverty.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37172-haiti-insecurity-the-un-worried-about-the-increase-in-violence-asks-the-authorities-to-act.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37164-haiti-humanitarian-insecurity-prevents-un-agencies-from-providing-relief-in-cite-soleil.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37138-haiti-flash-thousands-of-brooklyn-residents-hostages-of-the-gang-war-cite-soleil.html

HL/ HaitiLibre