UNITED NATIONS, (CMC) – The United Nations (UN) Tuesday said that the recent violence in the Artibonite department in Haiti has now triggered a new wave of displacement in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country.

Late last month, criminal gangs in Jean-Denis, in the Artibonite region carried out various attacks that left at least 16 people dead and several others injured.

The Gran Grif gang, one of Haiti’s most feared criminal organisations, was said to be behind the deadly attacks, resulting in more than 6,000 people fleeing the area.

Both the United States (US) and Canada condemned the attacks.

The UN spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told the daily news briefing that based on reports from “our humanitarian colleagues,” in Port au Prince, several people have been displaced as a result of the attacks.

Dujarris said that according to the latest estimates from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 13,000 people have been displaced in the impacted areas.

“Most of them, four out of five, have sought shelter with host families, while the rest have settled in 16 displacement sites.

“Together with authorities and our partners, OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) is supporting people in need, but access constraints and limited resources continue to hamper the humanitarian response,”  he added.

Gang violence has ravaged the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country ever since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated on July, 7, 2021.