UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — The United Nations (UN) says nearly 1.5 million people in Haiti had been displaced as of May this year, with 95,000 newly displaced between December last year and May.

UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that violence in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area has pushed the number of displaced people there to more than 300,000 for the first time.

“And that’s primarily due to armed clashes in the neighbourhood of Cite Soleil in March and also in May. Fighting is also driving continued displacement in Artibonite department. Overall, nearly 80 per cent of displaced people are outside the capital,” Haq told reporters.