HAITI’S appointed Prime Minister Garry Conille ordered gangs to surrender their weapons during a televised speech late on Wednesday, in which he acknowledged how dangerous life in Haiti’s capital and beyond has become.

Mr Conille was speaking a day after a second group of 200 Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti to help quell widespread gang violence as part of a United States-sponsored mission led by the East African country.

He said: “Life every day in Port-au-Prince has turned into a battle for survival.

“Many innocent people have lost their lives.”

Gangs are said to control around 80 per cent of Port-au-Prince and have been blamed for killing or injuring more than 1,500 people in the first three months of the year alone.

Pledging to crack down on rampant violence, Mr Conille warned the gangs to “drop your weapons and recognise the authority of the state.”

The latest round of killings led to the resignation of former prime minister Ariel Henry in April and the installation of a transitional presidential council, with Mr Conille as the new prime minister.

In coming months, the Kenyan force will be joined by police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica for a total of 2,500 personnel.

Mr Conille said the objective is to recapture all gang-controlled territory “house by house, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, community by community.”

Violence across Haiti has left more than 500,000 people homeless. 

More than half of those displaced are women and girls, with many living in crowded and unsanitary makeshift camps and shelters.

On Wednesday, the United Nations noted that rape is being used in most camps as a deliberate tactic to control women’s access to scarce humanitarian aid.

Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, said: “The level of insecurity and brutality, including sexual violence, that women are facing at the hands of gangs in Haiti is unprecedented.

“It must stop now.”