UN Warns Haiti Food Stocks Could Be Drained Within Weeks

Umer Jamshaid Published April 12, 2024 | 10:10 AM

United Nations, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Apr, 2024) The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warned Thursday that its stocks in Haiti could run out by the end of the month as rampant gang violence hampers access.

The Caribbean nation has been in a state of acute crisis since late February when gang leaders who control much of Port-au-Prince teamed up to attack police stations, prisons, the airport and the sea port in a drive to topple Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Amid the violence, the capital's international airport and key port have been closed for a month.

The WFP said it has ramped up its work in Haiti in recent weeks, feeding as many as 500,000 people since the latest crisis broke out.

The United Nations agency has tried to obtain food from local producers but still fears its stocks could run out by the end of April, it said in a statement.

"WFP has only enough food in the country to feed 175,000 people for one month," it said in a statement, quoting Jean-Martin Bauer, the agency's country director in Haiti.

He said the agency needs the port to reopen immediately and also needs unimpeded access to ship food around the country.

Food insecurity in Haiti -- people not getting enough to eat -- has hit the highest level since a devastating earthquake in 2010, the agency said.

Further hampering access to nourishment and other aid, only seven percent of the UN's appeal for $674 million for humanitarian projects has been funded, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Prime Minister Henry announced on March 11 that he would resign amid the deadly gang violence, although a deal for a temporary government that will replace him has yet to be finalized.

Meanwhile "gang violence is disrupting access to health care for Haitians in Port-au-Prince," Dujarric said.

La Paix University Hospital, the only major such establishment still open, is "overwhelmed" and ambulances are having "difficulty accessing areas that are controlled by these armed gangs," Dujarric added.