UN chief sees glimmer of light in total darkness Haiti

TT

Published 21.22

 

Police patrol the Cité Soleil neighborhood in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. Archive photo. Photo: Odelyn Joseph/AP/TT

UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited impoverished, politically unstable and gang-ruled Haiti on Tuesday.

"The humanitarian situation is desperate, but there are fragile glimmers of hope," Guterres wrote on X.

Around 1.5 million residents are internally displaced in a country with a population of eleven million. More than five million suffer from food shortages according to UN estimates.

Murders, rapes, violent assaults and looting occur daily in Haiti, which has not had elections since 2016, and which has seen an escalating spiral of violence in recent years.

International efforts to restore order have so far failed, despite the UN sanctioning a peacekeeping force.

But Guterres hopes his visit will bolster international support for Haiti.