Many People Leave Homes in Haiti Due to Gang Violence

A new wave of gang violence in Haiti has made hundreds of people leave their homes and move to a road leading to the main airport.
Monique Verdieux, 56, left her home after seeing armed men burn houses. Her family went in different directions, and she does not know where they are. She is very worried about them.
I am now sleeping on the street, Verdieux said, noting it was not safe to go back home.
The gang fights started over the weekend in many northern areas of Port-au-Prince, making people move to a road leading to the airport.
Haiti's president, Jovenel Moïse, was killed during a time of much political violence.
Gangs have taken over most of Port-au-Prince since the president was killed in July 2021. Police say gangs are doing more bad things like stealing, kidnapping, and hurting people, even outside the city.
Haiti has not had a president since the killing.
For two weeks, a big rum maker and two large bottlers in Haiti have been warning about bad security near the airport, where work is now very limited.
The companies said the government is not doing enough to help, and the bad roads to the airport make it hard for police to patrol. These companies give a lot of money to the government.
You cannot keep an airport safe if the roads around it are bad, the companies said.
On Monday, hospitals in the Cité Soleil area of Port-au-Prince moved their patients, and a aid group stopped its work there.
Many people went to a hospital in Cité Soleil for safety, but one of the hospital's guards was shot by a stray bullet while inside.
Another hospital, Hopital Fontaine, moved babies from its intensive care unit. The aid group helped some patients from Fontaine, including women who had babies overnight.
No hospitals are open now in the area where the fighting is happening, and the aid group cannot keep its staff and patients safe with all the gunfire.
The aid group took in over 800 people but stopped working at the hospital because the situation got worse.
The gunfire has not stopped since Sunday morning.
In April, the first foreign troops to help with the violence arrived in Haiti.
The UN approved a plan for a 5,550-member force to help Haiti, but not all of them have arrived yet. Some troops from Chad are already there.
A report found that gang violence has made over 1.4 million people leave their homes in Haiti, with about 200,000 living in crowded and underfunded sites in the capital.