Gang violence in Haiti displaces nearly 580,000 people, shows UN report

Surging violence in Haiti from clashes with armed gangs since March has displaced nearly 5,80,000 people, according to a new report from the UN migration agency, a sobering figure that underscores the magnitude of the Caribbean nation's crisis.

Haiti has long faced unrest but at the end of February, gangs unleashed coordinated attacks with gunmen taking control of police stations, opening fire on the main international airport that remained closed for nearly three months and stormed Haiti's two biggest prisons.

A report released on Tuesday by the International Organisation for Migration said the displacement of more than half a million is mainly due to people fleeing the capital of Port-au-Prince for other provinces, which lack the resources to support them.

In March, the agency reported more than 3,62,000 internally displaced people in Haiti. Since then, the violence has more than doubled the number of internally displaced in the southern region already ravaged by a 2021 earthquak