Haiti gang wars now 'cataclysmic' in key farmlands -UN report

FILE PHOTO: Former police officer Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier (not pictured), leader of the 'G9' coalition, is accompanied by Security during a march against Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti September 19, 2023. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo

(Reuters) - Haiti's brutal gang wars have spread from the capital to key farming heartlands, displacing tens of thousands of people and having a devastating impact on access to food staples, the United Nations said in a report on Tuesday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said long-awaited international security assistance - requested by Haiti's unelected government a year ago and authorized by the U.N. last month - should be deployed "as soon as possible".