Haiti – Updated key messages: Rampant insecurity in Port-au-Prince and Artibonite continues to deteriorate household sources of food and income, December 2024 – Haiti

Key messages

• Gang attacks in the metropolitan area of ​​Port-au-Prince (ZMPP) and the Artibonite department continue to worsen, particularly in Cité Soleil and in the commune of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite. The upsurge in violence since November limits population movements, hampers the income-generating activities of poor households and leads to the displacement of more than 21,400 people during the first seventeen days of December (IOM). Thus, Emergency (IPC Phase 4) food insecurity in Cité Soleil and widespread Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persist. Internally displaced people in ZMPP sites, because of their precarious situation, and pockets of very poor households in the West, North-West and Grand’Anse will also be in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) .
• In December, gang violence was very deadly, with the massacre perpetrated by gang leader Mikanor at Wharf Jérémie, in the commune of Cité Soleil, resulting in the deaths of at least 207 people between December 6 and 11 ( BINUH). Furthermore, in the commune of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, following the joint operation between the national police (HNP) and the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM) against the Gran Grif gang, the latter carried out attacks on December 13 resulting in the death of 70 people. This upsurge in violence has deteriorated the sources of income of poor households, the functioning and supply of markets, as well as hampered the distribution of food assistance. In areas where insecurity is greatest, particularly the ZMPP and the Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite commune, access to the household market is becoming more and more restrictive, whether financial access due to the reduction of financial resources in the impacted areas (impossibility of withdrawing cash from banks and money transfer houses, these being not supplied with liquidity) and the difficulties of households to engage in typical activities income generators.
• The floods, which have hit the departments of North, North-West, South and Grand’Anse since the end of November and the beginning of December, have caused material and human damage, including 10 people dead and 6 missing, and, at Grand’Anse, 6,000 farmers and 500 breeders were affected (OCHA). In the North and Northwest, up to 80 percent of lowland bean, sweet potato and banana plantations have been destroyed in the worst-affected areas, according to key informants. Bean crops are particularly affected the most in the North-West. Furthermore, in the Great South, the Congo pea crop, which should be harvested between the end of November and January, was the most affected, having been destroyed by more than 80 percent in the most affected areas. In addition, about 20 hectares of corn and beans are also affected, according to a key informant. In the Grand’Anse department, particularly in Anse d’Hainault, Dammarie and Chambellan, around 75 percent of plantations located in lowland areas are destroyed. Although the winter crop season typically produces much less than the spring crop season, in Haiti, reduced production will reduce anticipated food stocks and push producing households to rely more on markets after the harvest. The additional pressure on access to food will likely be felt most acutely by households in the Deep South who already have limited adaptive capacity due to hosting more than 45 percent of internally displaced persons (IDPs). of the country.
• Despite the security crisis in the Haitian capital paralyzing the supply, particularly of local products, and the functioning of markets like Croix-des-Bossales and Croix-des-Bouquets, the prices of basic food products like rice, oil cooking, dry peas remain relatively stable, fluctuating slightly compared to previous months. However, prices remain significantly higher than normal, making access more difficult for the poorest.