ESCALATING gang violence in Haiti could lead to “a point of no return,” a top United Nations (UN) official in the Caribbean country has warned.

Addressing the UN security council, Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the Kenya-led multinational force that is helping Haiti’s police to tackle gangs as their violence spreads into areas outside the capital Port-Au-Prince.

Most recently, she said, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti and freed over 500 prisoners during the attack.

It was the fifth prison break in under a year and “part of a deliberate effort to entrench dominance, dismantle institutions and instil fear.”

Haiti’s police were overwhelmed by the scale and duration of the violence, Ms Salvador added, despite having support from the military and the Kenya-led force.

The gangs have grown in power since the July 7 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise. They are now estimated to control 85 per cent of the capital and are moving into surrounding areas. Haiti has not had a president since then.

The UN-backed mission, led by Kenyan police, arrived in Haiti last year to help quell gang violence, but the mission remains understaffed and underfunded, with only about 40 per cent of the 2,500 personnel originally envisaged.

Ms Salvador said that in February and March alone, 1,086 people were killed and 383 injured.

In addition, over 60,000 Haitians have been displaced in the past two months, adding to one million already displaced by December, according to the UN migration office. “These figures are expected to rise,” she said.

Earlier this month, transitional presidential council head Fritz Alphonse Jean tried to allay rising alarm among Haitians over the rampant gang violence by acknowledging that the country had “become hell for everyone.” He promised new measures to stop the bloodshed.

But Ms Salvador, who leads the UN political mission in the country, said the Haitian government’s efforts alone would be insufficient to significantly reduce the intensity of the violence.

In February, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said he would ask the security council to authorise funding for the structural and logistical expenses of the Kenya-led mission from the UN budget.

However, there are no signs that the council plans to address this request with any urgency.