INSECURITY caused by armed gangs in Haitian capital Port au Prince has reached levels similar to countries at war, according to a new United Nations report.

It highlighted a surge in murders and kidnappings in the Caribbean country considered to be the poorest in the Western hemisphere.

In a report to the UN security council, secretary general Antonio Guterres said that armed gangs “continued to compete to expand their territorial control throughout the Port au Prince metropolitan area, spreading to previously unaffected neighbourhoods.

“With the high number of fatalities and increasing areas under the control of armed gangs, insecurity in the capital has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict,” the report said.

Reported murders have risen by 21 per cent, from 673 in the last quarter of 2022 to 815 between January 1 and March 31. 

The number of reported kidnappings rocketed by 63 per cent, from 391 to 637.

The report said: “The people of Haiti continue to suffer one of the worst human rights crises in decades and a major humanitarian emergency.”

Clashes among gangs and with police have “become more violent and more frequent,” claiming many civilian lives, and conditions in areas newly targeted by gangs have worsened significantly.

In Cite Soleil, along the capital’s waterfront, “the inhabitants feel besieged. They can no longer leave their homes for fear of armed violence and the terror imposed by the gangs,” the UN said in a separate statement on Sunday.

The statement said that between April 14 and 19, about 70 people were left dead after clashes between rival gangs.

On top of the deadly gang violence, the UN World Food Programme estimates that 4.9 million of the nearly 12m population of Haiti do not have enough to eat.