The United Nations Secretar-General, Antonio Guterres has said that the people of Haiti need action to address urgent humanitarian needs and international community must act now to ease their suffering .
Guterres who disclosed in a Press encounter on Haiti at the UN headquarter Thursday, revealed that the United Nations humanitarian response plan requires $720 million to help more than three million people in the country.
The UN Chief who just came from Port-au-Prince where he attended a Summit of the leaders of Caribbean Community in Trinidad and took part in a special session on Haiti, he said further that Haitian people are trapped in a living nightmare.
“Humanitarian conditions are beyond appalling. Brutal gangs have a stranglehold on the people of Haiti. Port-au-Prince is encircled by armed groups that are blocking roads, controlling access to food and health care, and undermining humanitarian support.
“Predatory gangs are using kidnappings and sexual violence as weapons to terrorize entire communities. I have heard appalling accounts of women and girls being gang-raped, and of people being burned alive. The world must act now to stem the violence and instability”, he lamented.
He pointed that there can be no sustainable security without a political solution that allows for the restoration of democratic institutions. “And there can be no lasting and inclusive political solutions without a drastic improvement of the security situation”.
UN Chief appealed to members of the Security Council and to all relevant potential contributing countries to act now to create the conditions for the deployment of a multinational force to assist the Haitian National Police.
“We are not calling for a military or political mission of the United Nations. We are calling for a robust security force deployed by Member States to work hand-in-hand with the Haitian National Police to defeat and dismantle the gangs and restore security across the country”.
Guterres welcomed steps to find Haitian solutions to restore the constitutional order and urged the Prime Minister, the High Transitional Council, members of civil society and political parties to forge political entente to end the crisis.
