Haiti massacre leaves thousands homeless after gang violence leads to 4,000 prisoners escaping

Port-Au-Prince's main prison saw nearly 4,000 inmates escape following an assault on Sunday, with only 100 prisoners left still inside.

The situation escalated as Prime Minister Ariel Henry went to Kenya to tie up a deal for the deployment of foreign troops to restore order.

On Sunday, Haiti's threadbare government declared a state of emergency after inmates escaped in two major prison breaks and heavy gunfire sounded across the capital.

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021, violent gangs have expanded their territory and an already precarious security situation has worsened. Henry, who leads an unelected interim government, had pledged to step down by February, but delayed the process, citing the lack of security.

Henry's current whereabouts are unknown and the expected date of his return to Haiti is unclear. The United Nations' immigration office said during the weekend that at least 15,000 people had been displaced due to violence.

Nicolas, who is living in a camp, sleeping in such cramped conditions he says he feels like an animal. He said: "Armed gangs forced us to leave our homes. They destroyed our houses, and we're on the streets."

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The United States has urged its citizens to leave Haiti "as soon as possible". The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has sought to strengthen its border and said it will not set up refugee camps for fleeing Haitians.

Jasmine, who declined to give her last name, said: "I didn't have time to take any of my things, not even my underwear...I didn't know what to do."

Country director of aid agency Concern Worldwide Kwanli Kladstrup said an estimated five million of Haiti's 11 million people faced acute hunger, adding: "Peace and security needs to be established as quickly as possible to enable humanitarian work to be ramped up further.

"Everybody is traumatised and we are seeing increased numbers of people being forced to flee their homes – often bringing nothing with them – to escape the fighting."

Country director Allassane Drabo said girls were at particular risk of forced marriage, with parents unable to meet basic needs. She said: "Widespread violence is robbing too many of their childhood, with girls being forced to swap schoolbooks and bread for guns and wedding dresses."

The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Haiti. Embassies in Port-Au-Prince have requested their staff to leave the country.

Humanitarian aid groups say they are also chronically underfunded and that their workers have struggled to keep delivering their services due to the violence.

The UN estimates the conflict killed close to 5,000 people last year and has driven some 300,000 from their homes.

Rights group Plan International said many were fleeing the capital for the Artibonite, traditionally Haiti's breadbasket farming region but whose residents are now facing food shortages as fighting spreads north.

At a regional summit last week, leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean called in a joint declaration for "prompt and effective implementation" of last year's UN resolution ratifying the Kenyan-led multinational force.

However, the deployment date for the security mission has not been set.

As of late February, the UN said five nations had formally pledged troops, with less than $11million deposited into a fund for the mission.