UN chief: Haitians 'trapped in living nightmare,' demands action to stem violence

​​​​​​​By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded Thursday that the world act now to tackle spiraling violence in crisis-hit Haiti following a visit to the Caribbean nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince.

“The Haitian people are trapped in a living nightmare,” he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. “Humanitarian conditions are beyond appalling.”

Gangs control wide swathes of the city as Haitians face political tumult, a humanitarian crisis and poverty in addition to extreme violence.

He said predatory gangs are using kidnappings and sexual violence as weapons to terrorize communities.

“I have heard appalling accounts of women and girls being gang-raped, and of people being burned alive,” he said. “The world must act now to stem the violence and instability.”

He appealed to the international community to fund the UN's humanitarian response plan which requires $720 million to help more than 3 million people.

The plan is only 23% funded.

Guterres renewed his call for the deployment of international forces to assist the Haitian police.

The US has been trying to persuade Canada to deploy forces to Haiti but so far Ottawa has ruled out sending any kind of armed force.