At least 75 people have been killed, including women and children, since late April in clashes between two rival Haitian gangs in the northern suburbs of Port-au-Prince, the UN announced on Friday (May 6).
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In a press release, the United Nations said it was "
deeply concerned by the rapid deterioration of the security situation
" in the capital since April 24.
"
According to several sources, at least 75 people, including women and children, have been killed and 68 others injured so far
," the statement said.
At least 9,000 residents of these neighborhoods, which have become the scene of this gang war, have been forced to flee their homes and take refuge with relatives or in temporary sites, such as churches and schools.
"Extreme Violent"
For several decades, armed gangs have been raging in the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, but they have drastically increased their hold across the Haitian capital and the country in recent years, multiplying murders and villainous kidnappings.
The UN has denounced
the "extreme violence
" of the gangs during their clashes, saying that local sources have traced the existence of "
acts of sexual violence, including the gang rape of children as young as 10 years, to terrorize and intimidate local populations living in areas controlled by rival gangs
”.
For its part, the United Nations agency for the protection of children warns of the consequences on education of this territorial hold of gangs.
“
In Haiti, 500,000 children have lost access to education due to gang-related violence
,” UNICEF reported Friday.
"
Nearly 1,700 schools are currently closed in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince
," the agency's statement said.
"
No child can go to school while bullets are flying in the air, it's dangerous and it shouldn't be
," lamented Bruno Maes, UNICEF representative in the country.
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Already on Wednesday, the UN office in Haiti had expressed its concern over the enlistment of children by armed gangs.
The Haitian government has not yet commented on this outbreak of violence which, for almost two weeks, has placed the capital in a state of siege, preventing any safe exit by road to the rest of the country.