Haiti key port closed to land access after gang attacks

Land access to a vital supply port in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince is being closed off after attacks by armed gangs, operator Caribbean Port Services (CPS) said on Thursday.

"CPS will shut its barriers to all types of land-based traffic from Sept. 26 to Sept. 29," it said in a statement, saying that the suspension should allow the army and national police to secure the area.

A shipping official told Reuters this week that ships were being shot at, preventing them from docking and unloading containers, while authorities have reported the kidnapping of two Filipino crew members from a cargo vessel in the port.

Haitian leaders speaking at the United Nations General Assembly this week have warned of worsening insecurity in the Caribbean country despite the partial deployment of a U.N.-backed security force, whose initial mandate expires in less than a week.

Powerful gangs, armed with weapons largely trafficked from the United States, have united in the capital under a common alliance and now control most of the city and are expanding to nearby areas.

Over 700,000 people have been internally displaced - nearly double the figure from six months ago - many residing in makeshift camps in schools and without a fixed source of income as food becomes increasingly expensive and hunger rates soar.

"This situation is not just a humanitarian emergency but it is a threat to the stability of our nation," Haiti's transition council president Edgard Leblanc Fils told the U.N. general assembly earlier on Thursday. "It's never too late to act."

Food prices in Haiti rose 42% in July from a year earlier according to the World Food Programme.

Leblanc also urged the Security Council to consider converting the under-funded and under-staffed Kenyan-led security force into a formal peacekeeping mission to secure more stable funding, troops and equipment from U.N. member states.

Haiti's main seaports and international airport closed for nearly three months earlier this year when violence peaked at the end of February, thousands broke out of prison and the last prime minister resigned.