A new wave of gang violence in Haiti has displaced hundreds of people.

Gangs in Haiti control over 90% of Port-au-Prince following the assassination of President Jovenal Moïse in 2021. A new wave of gang violence in Haiti has forced hundreds of people to flee, and on Monday they were scattered along a road leading to the country's main airport. Monique Verdieux, 56, fled to the highway after seeing armed men burning houses in her neighborhood. Her family was scattered in different directions, and she said she is not sure where they are. "Now I am sleeping on the street," Verdieux said, emphasizing that it is not safe to return. Gang clashes erupted over the weekend in several neighborhoods in northern Port-au-Prince, pushing displaced people towards a road leading to Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Gangs have taken control of over 90% of Port-au-Prince since the assassination of President Jovenal Moïse in July 2021. According to police, the gangs have expanded their activities—including looting, kidnappings, sexual assaults, and rapes—into the interior of the country. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination. Entire families have been forced to flee and separate as armed gangs advance into neighborhoods in northern Port-au-Prince. (AP photo/Odelyn Joseph) Over the past two weeks, the Haitian rum producer Barbancourt and two of the country's largest bottling companies have warned about the deteriorating security conditions near Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, where operations are now severely restricted. In a statement released on Sunday, the companies said that the government's response to the crisis has been "largely insufficient," and pointed out that the poor condition of the roads leading to the airport makes it difficult for Haitian security forces to patrol the area. The companies are among Haiti's largest taxpayers. "An airport cannot be secured if the roads around it are allowed to deteriorate," the statement said. Residents of Port-au-Prince are seeking refuge near the airport, after fleeing gang violence in their neighborhoods. (REUTERS/Jean Feguens Regala/File Photo) In April, the first foreign troops linked to a United Nations force arrived in Haiti to suppress gangs, in an effort to help contain the ongoing violence. The UN Security Council approved a plan at the end of September to authorize a force of 5,550 members, which has not yet fully arrived in the island nation. So far, an unknown number of troops from Chad have been deployed. A report published earlier this year by the International Organization for Migration concluded that gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people in Haiti, and that approximately 200,000 of them now live in overcrowded and under-resourced settlements in the country's capital. (AP)