Gang violence in Haiti has displaced nearly 580,000 people says UN report

Police guard outside the hospital where Haiti’s newly selected prime minister Garry Conille was treated in Port-au-Prince (Odelyn Joseph/AP)

Surging violence in Haiti from clashes with armed gangs since March has displaced nearly 580,000 people, according to a new report from the UN migration agency.

Haiti has long faced unrest, but at the end of February gangs unleashed co-ordinated attacks with gunmen taking control of police stations, opening fire on the main international airport – which remained closed for nearly three months – and storming Haiti’s two biggest prisons.