Violence Escalates in Haiti, Deepening Food Crisis Further: WFP | United Nations

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Published Jun 22, 2024

Hybrid press briefing by the World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director in Haiti, Jean-Martin Bauer. He will brief reporters virtually from Port-au-Prince to provide an update on the situation there.

The World Food Program (WFP) Country Director in Haiti, Jean-Martin Bauer, today (12 Mar) said, “I'm ringing the alarm bell because you have this, baseline level of hunger that's already very high” and a recent upsurge in violence “is worsening things even more.”

Briefing reporters in New York via video teleconference from Cap-Haitien in Haiti’s north, Bauer said, “what we're seeing is an increase in violence. We're seeing an increase in population displacement with 15,000 newly displaced people over the first weekend of March, bringing the total number of displaced people in Haiti to above 360,000.

The WFP official said, “the main roads to Port-au-Prince are controlled by armed groups. The port was disrupted by armed groups last week and it's still not operational. That means food can't come into Port-au-Prince by road or by sea. And of course, air service flights to Port-au-Prince have been disrupted, have also been disrupted to the rest of the country.”

He said, “Haiti depends on food imports for 50 percent of its food supply. And we are seeing, I can confirm that the cost of a food basket in port au Prince is rising. It's also rising elsewhere in Haiti, and this is a huge problem for the population.”

Bauer stressed that “WFP is still in the country” with 300 staff “doing everything we possibly can to support the population.”

He said WFP’s team on the ground is providing “almost 14,000” hot meals every day for the displaced population, “focusing on those 15,000 that were recently displaced as a result of the violence, last week. But we know we need to do more. They're probably more than 100,000 IDPs on site in Port-au-Prince at present.”

Secretary-General António Guterres today issued a statement taking note of the agreement reached yesterday by Haitian stakeholders on a transitional governance arrangement, including the establishment of a Presidential Council and the appointment of an interim Prime Minister.

He also takes note of Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s announcement that he would resign immediately upon the installation of a Transitional Presidential Council.