(Bloomberg) -- Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry called for international help to control gang violence and unblock roads to allow the flow of fuel and aid. 

In a speech late Wednesday, Henry asked the international community to “help us fight this humanitarian crisis” as the country tries to stave off a new cholera outbreak.

“The whole country has been taken hostage,” he said. “It’s preventing our children going to school, it’s preventing the sick from having access to healthcare, it’s preventing people from accessing potable water, and even blocking roads and keeping food from being transported in the country.”

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The Caribbean nation has been paralyzed by anti-government protests amid anger over rising fuel and food prices. Heavily-armed gangs now control large parts of the capital.

Earlier this week, diplomats and the private sector asked for a humanitarian corridor that would allow fuel to be delivered from the Terminal Varreux port, which supplies fuel to the capital. 

Read More: Gangs Now Run Haiti, Filling a Vacuum Left by Years of Collapse

Violence in Haiti has risen since the 2021 murder of President Jovenel Moise and long-overdue elections get further delayed.

(Updates with quote from speech in third paragraph)

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