Haiti: UN to resume aid flights on Wednesday after week-long suspension
PORT-AU-PRINCE – The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) will resume flights to Haiti on Wednesday after a suspension lasting approximately one week, according to a statement from the World Food Programme (WFP), which manages the service.
The UN suspended flights to Haiti’s capital last Tuesday after gangs fired on three commercial aircraft.
“UNHAS provides passenger and light cargo transport in Haiti for the entire humanitarian community, including local and international NGOs,” WFP said in a statement.
Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, is largely under the control of armed gangs, driving the mass displacement of over 20,000 people, according to a report from the UN migration agency (IOM) on Sunday.
“The isolation of Port-au-Prince is amplifying an already dire humanitarian situation,” the IOM Haiti chief, Gregoire Goodstein, said in a statement, adding that only 20% of the capital was accessible to humanitarian workers.
“Our ability to deliver aid is stretched to its limits. Without immediate international support, the suffering will worsen exponentially,” he said.
Geeta Narayan, UNICEF’s Director in Haiti, pointed out that more than half of the 20,000 displaced individuals are children, who are facing the “cumulative effects of malnutrition, cholera outbreaks, severe psychological distress, and, tragically, the loss of many lives.”
By early September, IOM estimated that more than 700,000 people had been displaced within the country.
In the meantime, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported worsening food shortages, with approximately 6,000 people now facing famine.
