Armed groups control 90% of Port-au-Prince, displacing over a million people as the international response struggles to keep up, a UN official warns
Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, is on the brink of total collapse, with heavily armed gangs now controlling most of the city, a senior UN official has warned. The official stressed that violence continues to escalate across the Caribbean nation, while the international response remains slow and fragmented.
Haiti has been without a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in July 2021, leaving a power vacuum that has allowed armed gangs to expand their influence unchecked. In the absence of a functioning central government and with weakened state institutions, the armed groups have grown in strength, seizing territory and increasingly operating as the de facto authorities across the country, particularly in the capital.
”Organized criminal groups have gained practically total control of the capital – approximately 90% of Port-au-Prince is under their grip,” Ghada Fathi Waly, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
She added that the gangs “are continuing to establish their presence along strategic roads and border regions,” expanding attacks not only into surrounding areas but also into previously peaceful territories.
”Southern Haiti, which until recently was insulated from the violence, has seen a sharp increase in gang-related incidents,” Waly said. “And in the east, criminal groups are exploiting land routes, including key crossings like Belladere and Malpasse, where attacks against police and customs officials have been reported.”
She said the Haitian state’s ability to govern is rapidly eroding as gangs tighten their grip, triggering a cascade of consequences. Criminal groups are filling the void left by the absence or breakdown of public services, setting up their own “parallel governance structures.” Their control over key trade routes has crippled legal commerce, driving up the cost of essential goods such as cooking fuel and rice.
Earlier this week, the UN’s International Organization for Migration reported that the ongoing crisis has displaced a record 1.3 million people across the Caribbean state. The IOM noted that the number of makeshift shelters has skyrocketed by more than 70%. According to UN statistics, at least 5,600 people were killed in gang-related incidents in 2024 alone.
According to AP, the Kenyan-led, UN-supported mission in Haiti, which arrived in 2024 to help curb gang violence, has remained understaffed and underfunded, with only around 40% of the planned 2,500 personnel currently deployed. The news agency also noted that in February, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed providing drones, fuel, transport, and other non-lethal assistance to bolster the mission, but the plan has stalled in the Security Council.
