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Over 50,000 fled Haiti capital in three weeks

REUTERS
Wednesday, Apr 03, 2024

PORT-AU-PRINCE: More than 53,000 people fled Haiti’s capital in just three weeks of March as conflict between powerful armed gangs wreaked havoc for civilians, with the state largely absent and a path out of the chaos yet to be established by politicians.

Tens of thousands of people left Port-au-Prince’s metropolitan area between March 8 and 27, according to United Nations estimates released on Tuesday, with violence again flaring up over the Easter weekend and at the start of April.

The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday that a scale of human rights abuse was taking place “unprecedented in modern Haitian history,” including killings, kidnappings and sexual violence.

The conflict has also blocked off transport of key goods and humanitarian aid into the capital.

According to the UN, many of the displaced are traveling toward the country’s southern peninsula, which is still recovering from a devastating 2021 earthquake.