Nearly 90 dead in Haiti gang violence

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.

The unrest erupted on July 7 between two rival factions in Cite Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince.

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.

"At least 89 people were killed and 16 others are missing" in the past week's violence, the National Human Rights Defence Network said in a statement, adding that another 74 people sustained gunshot or knife wounds.

Mumuza Muhindo, head of the local mission of Doctors Without Borders, urged all combatants to allow medics to safely access Brooklyn, an area of Cite Soleil most affected by the violence.

Despite the danger, Muhindo said his group has operated on an average of 15 patients a day since last Friday. 

He said his colleagues have seen burned and rotting corpses along a road leading to the Brooklyn neighbourhood, possibly either gang members killed in the clashes or people trying to flee.