PRINCE PORT- More than 2,500 people were killed or seriously injured in Haiti in violent incidents linked to armed groups during the first quarter, according to a UN report that warned of the worst spiral of violence in two years.
The number of victims was 53 percent higher than the previous quarter and evidenced the security crisis in which the Caribbean country was immersed, which was also trying to resolve the vacuum of political institutions and address serious humanitarian shortcomings.
The UN had previously warned that more than 1,500 people died this year due to attacks by armed groups, but now the Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH, for its acronym in French) confirmed 2,505 victims – 3 percent of them minors– in just three months if both deaths and seriously injured people were taken into account.
In addition, at least 438 people were kidnapped between the beginning of January and the end of March with the aim of requesting a financial ransom, a common tactic of the gangs but which decreased by 37 percent compared to the final stretch of 2023.
Port-au-Prince and its metropolitan region continued to be the epicenter of this violence, since eight out of ten victims were concentrated in this area. The UN warned of “extremely violent” clashes between the groups, which sought to expand territorially.
Violence was also the main factor of displacement in Haiti, where more than 360,000 people were already living outside their homes. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in March alone more than 53,000 people left Port-au-Prince due to the increase in attacks.
Source: EUROPA PRESS
