UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Armed groups are continuing to launch coordinated attacks on civilians in some neighborhoods of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, said UN humanitarians on Monday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the commune of Gressier, south of Port-au-Prince, was attacked on Friday and several houses were torched. Local authorities said an unknown number of residents fled their homes.
"Humanitarian partners are conducting assessments both in Gressier and in nearby areas where people fled," OCHA said. "Since late February, coordinated attacks by armed groups have targeted hospitals, schools, homes, churches, banks and commercial establishments."
The office said there are currently 362,000 internally displaced people -- half of them children -- in Haiti. The International Organization for Migration reported that some 95,000 people fled the capital between March 8 and April 9, with 60 percent of them displaced to Haiti's southern departments.
OCHA said humanitarian organizations continue to provide emergency assistance to thousands of people in the capital and other areas of the country despite the volatile situation.
Since March 1, the World Food Programme has helped more than 800,000 people nationwide through its school feeding, emergency and resilience programs. The agency has distributed more than 825,000 meals to more than 95,000 displaced people in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, said OCHA. ■
