(United Nations) Food stocks from the UN World Food Program (WFP) risk being exhausted by the end of April in Haiti, where the international airport has been closed for a month, a spokesperson warned Thursday of ONU.
The WFP “is accelerating its food aid in the country, but warns that its food stocks risk being exhausted by the end of the month,” declared Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, specifying that the The organization still has enough to feed 175,000 people in the country for a month.
“The closure of the main port and the main airport a month ago has of course disrupted the arrival of aid in the country,” he indicated, noting also that the humanitarian response plan of the UN for Haiti for 2024, estimated at $674 million, is only 7% funded.
At the end of February, the powerful Haitian gang leaders, who today control a large part of the capital Port-au-Prince, joined forces to attack police stations, prisons, the airport, and the seaport in order to push out the Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
The latter announced on March 11 that he would resign to make way for a transition council. But the formation of this council has still not been finalized.
“Gang violence disrupts access to health for Haitians in Port-au-Prince,” Stéphane Dujarric also insisted on Thursday, noting that the Peace Hospital, the only major establishment still able to operate, was “overwhelmed” and that ambulances had “difficulty accessing areas controlled by gangs”.