<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A week of gang violence in Haiti’s capital has left at least 89 people dead, a rights group said Wednesday, as soaring prices, fuel shortages and gang warfare accelerate a brutal downward spiral in the security situation in Port-au-Prince.</span><br></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;">The unrest erupted on July 7 between two rival factions in Cite Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;">As gunfire crackled in the slums for nearly a week, police, short-staffed and ill-</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">equipped, did not intervene, while international humanitarian organizations struggled to deliver crucial food supplies and provide medical care to the victims.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;">Thousands of families living in the slums that have sprung up here over the past four decades had no choice but to hide inside their homes, unable to fetch food or water — and, with many houses made of sheet metal, dozens of residents fell victim to stray bullets.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;">“At least 89 people were killed and 16 others are missing” in the past week’s violence, the National Human Rights Defense Network said in a statement, adding that another 74 people sustained gunshot or knife wounds.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;">Mumuza Muhindo, head of the local mission of Doctors Without Borders, on Wednesday urged all combatants to allow medics to safely access Brooklyn, an area of Cite Soleil most affected by the violence.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;">Despite the danger, Muhindo said his group has operated on an average of 15 patients a day since last Friday. - AFP</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;">bnbd24/ fas</span></div><div><br></div>