#1562: Youth Murder Sparks Major Fire in Haiti Slum (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Youth Murder Sparks Major Fire in Haiti Slum 
 01:33 p.m Dec 23, 1999 Eastern 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Hundreds of homes were destroyed in a
fire set by angry neighbors of a murdered Haitian youth in Cite Soleil,
Haiti's largest shantytown, witnesses said on Thursday.  One other man
was killed and at least five other people were  wounded by gunfire
during the unrest, they said. The incident began on Wednesday afternoon
when a youth from  the neighborhood got into an argument with his
employer who refused to pay him, residents said. A third man, an
ex-convict deported from the United States,Friends and neighbors of the
murdered youth descended on the site of the incident firing random
shots. They poured gasoline and set a fire that burned hundreds of small
tin shacks. Firefighters later arrived to put out the fire. Prime
Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis later visited Cite Soleil,a seaside slum
with a population of over 200,000, in an effort to bring calm to the
area. He promised aid to rebuild the area.