UN to resume Haiti aid flights after planes hit by gunfireThe United Nations Humanitarian Air Service will restart flights within Haiti on Wednesday after around a week’s hiatus and resolving regulatory issues, according to a statement from the U.N. World Food Programme, which manages the service. The U.N. paused flights to Haiti’s capital last Tuesday, a day after gangs struck three commercial planes with gunfire, prompting the U.S. aviation regulator to ban U.S. airlines from flying to the conflict-ravaged Caribbean nation for 30 days. “UNHAS provides passenger and light cargo transport in Haiti for the entire humanitarian community, including local and international NGOs,” WFP said in a statement, adding that the suspension had not affected food supplies. Even as the flights restarted, armed violence continued in parts of the capital Port-au-Prince such as Lower Delmas. “The isolation of Port-au-Prince is amplifying an already dire humanitarian situation,” the IOM Haiti chief Gregoire Goodstein said in a statement, adding that only 20% of the capital was accessible to humanitarian workers.

Source: Daily Nation November 20, 2024 05:57 UTC