Haiti expands state of emergency to cover entire territory

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti has expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire nation's territory, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Garry Conille said on Wednesday, as the Caribbean country battles violent gangs that have taken over much of the capital and started expanding into nearby regions.

Haiti's populous Ouest department, where the capital Port-au-Prince is located, was put under a state of emergency on March 3 under the administration of Conille's predecessor Ariel Henry, as a dramatic escalation in violence paralyzed the capital and thousands of inmates scaped in two prison breaks.

The state of emergency was repeatedly renewed and other departments were later added, including the farming region of Artibonite that has suffered some of the worst violence, the Centre department and Nippes, on the southern peninsula.

Earlier on Wednesday, Conille said he had helped distribute materials and weapons for the Haitian army and national police in order to recover territories taken by gangs.

The announcement comes a day ahead of a planned visit to the Caribbean nation by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The U.S. is the largest funder of a U.N.-backed security mission that Henry requested in 2022 to help fight the gangs and reclaim territory.

A first contingent of 400 Kenyan police officers arrived in June and July, while a handful of other countries have pledged at least 2,500 more troops. These have yet to arrive and the mission's mandate is set to expire at the start of October.

Nearly 580,000 people have been internally displaced by the conflict, hundreds of thousands deported back to Haiti, and cose to 5 million people are facing severe hunger.

(Reporting by Harold Isaac; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez)