Blinken says crisis in Haiti is ‘long unfolding story’ as US pledges millions to help stabilize country

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said the crisis in Haiti "has been a long unfolding story" that will require coordination from the international community to solve.

The suffering of the Haitian people, Blinken said, can only be solved by a functioning democracy as well as humanitarian and developmental assistance to rebuild the economy.

"Fundamentally, we need to see security, because it’s very hard to do either of the first two things in an environment that is profoundly insecure," Blinken said.

In recent weeks, Haiti has been overrun by gangs, effectively shutting the country off from the rest of the world.

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The attacks began when Prime Minister Ariel Henry was in Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force – which has been temporarily suspended.

Since late last month, armed men in the capital of Port-au-Prince have set fire to police stations and stormed the country's two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. Among those who fled are gang leaders of at least seven communities, according to a new report by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known as BINUH.

As of March 10, gunmen attacked, looted or torched at