UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Clashes between gangs in the suburbs of the Haitian capital have left at least 78 dead since Saturday, including 10 bystanders, according to a provisional toll released Thursday to AFP by the United Nations (UN) Office in Haiti (BINUH).

“Armed clashes between several gangs in the communes of Cite Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets have left at least 78 dead and 66 wounded since May 9,” BINUH said, adding that the fatalities included 10 “members of the population (five men, four women, and a young girl).”

Haiti, the poorest country in the Caribbean, is ravaged by gang violence. The situation has steadily deteriorated over the past two years.

Violence since the weekend has displaced some 5,300 people. Several families are still trapped in the affected neighbourhoods, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, citing local humanitarian organisations.

A hospital and a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) facility have been forced to suspend operations and evacuate their staff.

Before evacuating, Doctors Without Borders reported that 40 gunshot victims were treated at the hospital in less than 12 hours.

The same two communes in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area saw outbreaks of violence in March and April that displaced nearly 8,000 people, the UN says.

BINUH said Thursday that between March 5 and May 11 at least 305 people were killed and 277 wounded in Cite Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets.

Of the fatalities, 63 were residents — including 17 women and 13 children — while the others killed were gang members.

A new multinational anti-gang force is being deployed to Haiti to replace the under-equipped and underfunded Multinational Mission to Support the Haitian Police. But so far, only a contingent of 400 Chadian soldiers has arrived in Port-au-Prince.

The new force announced on Thursday the arrival of its commander, Mongolian General Erdenebat Batsuuri.