UNITED NATIONS (CMC) – The World Food Programme (WFP) says it is responding to the needs of the people in Haiti following attacks earlier this week in the town of Mirebalais, in the Centre Department, that left several people, including two Roman Catholic nuns dead.

The nuns were among several people killed when an armed gang ran riot near the Haitian capital, Port au Prince, on Monday, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Port au Prince, Max Leroy Mésidor, has confirmed.

The nuns belonging to the Order of Saint Teresa have been identified as Evanette Onezaire and Jeanne Voltaire. Their deaths come as the Vivre Ensemble coalition, a group uniting the country’s most powerful gangs, launched an offensive in a bid to take control of the country.

The authorities said that during the attack, the gang members burnt several houses and vehicles, and fired automatic weapons.

The United Nations Security Council in 2023 passed a resolution for the Kenya-led MSS mission, aimed at combating gang violence and restoring stability in the country. Criminal gangs are seeking to take complete control of the capital, Port au Prince, and have launched several attacks, killing women and children among others.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), close to 6,000 men, women and children were displaced as a result of violence in the area.

The WFP said it has been able to provide hot meals to 2,000 of the 6,000 people displaced and that this operation was part of the country-wide efforts, which have seen WFP and partners provide more than 100,000 hot meals to 15,000 newly-displaced people in the past week alone.

Typically, newly-displaced people are initially offered hot meals and then transitioned to cash assistance, pending available funding.

Meanwhile, in the capital, Port au Prince, the insecurity, the protests, and the roadblocks have all impeded movement and disrupted the delivery of food assistance, said Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General, Antoni Guterres.

Dujarric said the WFP is continuing to push forward on operations to provide assistance to 25,000 people facing emergency levels of food insecurity.

“These people, who live in areas controlled by armed groups, are largely cut off from the rest of the country. As a reminder, according to the latest food security analysis, half of all Haitians don’t have enough to eat. Our colleagues at WFP Haiti are facing a funding gap of close to $54 million for the next six months,” Dujarric said.

According to United Nations data, more than 4,200 people have been killed in Haiti between July 2024 and February 2025, while another 6,000 have been forced to flee their homes.