UN describes “despair” in violence-torn Haiti

Officials of the United Nations Organization spoke yesterday Monday before the Security Council about the unfolding “humanitarian disaster” in Haiti, where the situation, as they emphasized, has reached a “new level of despair”, after two weeks of violent incidents and looting of warehouses with food aid.

Demonstrations and looting have rocked the country since Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henri announced on Sept. 11 an increase in fuel prices, subsidizing them as too expensive for the state, which is facing an acute shortage of revenue and funding.

The “economic crisis”, the “gang crisis” and the “political crisis” have combined to cause a “humanitarian catastrophe”, the UN special envoy for Haiti, Helen La Lim, summarized during an emergency meeting of the SA.

Even before the most recent unrest, “some 4.9 million Haitians were in need of humanitarian assistance. “Over the past two weeks, attacks against the World Food Program have resulted in the loss of 2,000 tons of food aid, worth $5 million, which would allow aid to be provided to 200,000 of the most vulnerable Haitians in the coming months,” she said.

He also said that the Varo oil terminal, the country’s largest, has been “under siege for over a week”, under siege by gangs.

The resulting lack of fuel paralyzes all activities and the operation of public services, led in particular to the closure of hospitals, he explained.

“Instead of the progress we hoped for and dreamed of, today the situation in Haiti has unfortunately reached a new level of despair,” said Valerie Guarnieri, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, stressing that the average price of a basket of food has increased by 52% in a year in the Caribbean country. He clarified that two of the four PEP warehouses were looted.

“We expect food insecurity to worsen further this year, surpassing a record 4.5 million people at the level of food security crisis or worse, including 1.3 million in a state of emergency,” he added .

At the same time, the activity of criminal gangs in the poorest state of the Western Hemisphere “makes the implementation of a humanitarian aid program difficult and dangerous”, he underlined, expressing particular concern about the looting of warehouses with stocks of food and other items that had been prepared for the cyclone season.

Haitian Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Geneis, present at the meeting, assured for his part that in terms of violence, “with the exception of isolated incidents, the situation is overall under control and calm has been restored in several parts of the country.”

However, he asked the international community to “strongly accompany” his country, to support the Haitian police to deal with the heavily armed gangs.

RES-EMP

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.