VIOLENCE in Haiti has escalated and expanded outside the capital, Port-au-Prince, the top United Nations official in the country said on Tuesday.

Gangs have reportedly attacked small boats and kidnapped personnel from cargo shipping companies.

Special representative Maria Isabel Salvador told the UN security council that the situation has worsened in the last three months, with more than 700,000 people now displaced in the country and the political process facing “significant challenges.”

She said Haitians across the country continue to suffer as gang activities escalate and expand, “spreading terror and fear, overwhelming the national security apparatus” and worsening an “extremely dire” humanitarian situation.

Gangs are also attacking small boats carrying Haitians from Port-au-Prince, to other areas of the country, and they have kidnapped personnel from international cargo freight companies, forcing them to suspend service to Haiti, Ms Salvador said.

Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN children’s agency, Unicef, told the council the “catastrophic situation” for Haiti’s children that she reported six months ago has deteriorated further. She said over 360,000 of those currently displaced are children.

Ms Russell said: “Armed groups are regularly committing grave rights violations against children including killing and maiming.

“And so far this year, we have seen a staggering increase in reported incidents of sexual violence against women and children, including gender-based violence.”

She added: “We estimate that children account for 30 per cent to 50 per cent of armed group members. 

“They are being used as informants, cooks and sex slaves, and they are being forced to perpetrate armed violence themselves.”

The security council voted on September 30 to extend the mandate of the United States backed but Kenyan-led multinational force trying to help Haiti’s national police force.

On the political front, Leslie Voltaire was sworn in as the new leader of Haiti’s transitional presidential council earlier this month, in the fallout of serious corruption allegations against three of its members.