Around 40,000 people have been forced from their homes since mid-August due to violence in Haiti, the World Food Program (WFP) revealed this week.

Violent gangs control entire regions of the country and the United Nations warned last week that there was an increase in killings, kidnappings, rapes and indiscriminate attacks in several areas previously considered safe.

"Women, children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups are bearing the brunt of a brutal conflict in which dozens of armed groups are fighting for control of territory," added the WFP.

Tens of thousands of people over the past two and a half months have been "driven from their homes... often fleeing with only the clothes on their backs," laments the UN agency.

"These recent movements bring the total number of displaced people across the country to more than 200,000," according to the WFP, which has distributed 550,000 hot meals since mid-August, even if with budget cuts the agency has often been unable to provide only one meal per day instead of the usual two, underlined Jean-Martin Bauer, director of WFP in Haiti. WFP is transitioning from serving hot meals to providing cash assistance to displaced people, to allow families to choose their food while boosting the local economy.

IH/ iciHaiti