New York, 14 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The United Nations is withdrawing non-essential personnel from Haiti, in the face of escalating gang violence in the crisis-plagued Caribbean state.

Due to the volatile security situation and based on the results of a revised security risk management process, non-essential staff will be reduced, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

He emphasized that the United Nations was not leaving Haiti. Staff who were carrying out life-saving work would remain in the country.

Haiti is in the grip of a government crisis following the resignation of interim prime minister Ariel Henry. Henry took over the reins of government shortly after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.

At the end of February brutal armed gangs, which together control almost the entire territory of the capital Port-au-Prince, joined forces and demanded Henry's resignation.

The prime minister then failed to return from a trip abroad. International diplomats, including the German ambassador, have left Haiti.

MIA file photo