Haiti aid groups halt operations as thousands flee gang warfare

(Reuters) – Haitian aid groups backed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) are temporarily shutting down operations, including some mobile health clinics, following days of extreme violence in parts of the Caribbean nation’s capital Port-au-Prince.

“In a matter of days, violence escalated dramatically in Port-au-Prince, particularly affecting neighborhoods where the IRC collaborates with local organizations to provide vital services,” the aid group said on Thursday.

The IRC launched its Haiti response plan last December and works with a number of local groups around the capital, where much of the violence has taken place.

Since Saturday, the United Nations estimates nearly 5,000 people have fled their homes from areas around Savanes Pistaches Carrefour Feuilles, which has been besieged by the Grand Ravine gang, led by Renel Destina, known as “Ti Lapli.”

On Wednesday, Carrefour Feuilles residents gathered outside the Army building and called for help, while many displaced families set up a shelter in a local school.

In a statement, Haiti’s government said police would deploy “all its forces” to restore order to Carrefour Feuilles.

Haiti’s under-gunned police have struggled against heavily armed gangs who have dramatically expanded their territory since last year, their turf wars driving mass displacements, severe food shortages, murders, kidnappings and sexual violence in areas under their control.

Last October, Haiti’s government called for urgent foreign security assistance but this went unanswered until Kenya stepped up last month, as many nations were wary of lending support to Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s unelected government, considered by many Haitians to be corrupt.

Following a ground assessment in coming weeks, the plan should go to a vote at the U.N. Security Council.

The IRC said that even where its partner organizations were working to continue providing services, roadblocks installed by warring gangs were preventing residents from accessing them.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Josie Kao)