#4866: Haiti Attackers Target EU Official (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier@tradewind.net

Saturday August 12 7:39 PM ET Haiti Attackers Target EU Official 
 By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer 

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Attackers lobbed a firebomb into the
 garden of a European Union official's home, a diplomat said Saturday,
in the latest attack against foreign officials and their property. 
 The Molotov cocktail burst into flames at the home of EU agriculture
consultant Pierre-Yves Baulain insuburban Petionville, said a
high-ranking European diplomat and several other diplomats who spoke on
 condition that they were not further identified.Baulain was on leave in
his home country France, and the explosive did not cause any property
damage. Police officials could not immediately be reached Saturday to
confirm the report.  The European Union, United States and Canada have
all threatened to withhold aid over concerns about the results of
elections in May, June and July. They say some results were incorrectly
computed giving victories to candidates from the Lavalas Family party. 
The vote gave Lavalas, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, control of both houses of parliament and most local councils
and city halls. Aristide also is favored to win the presidential
election on Nov. 26. The Organization of American States and
international donors have urged Haiti to hold new elections for
 10 disputed Senate seats.  On July 27, unidentified attackers threw a
grenade into the driveway of Canadian ambassador Gilles Bernier,
slightly damaging his vehicle. Bernier was in Canada at the time.  On
the morning of the attack on Bernier's residence, authorities found
another grenade in the courtyard of the former headquarters of the U.N.
civilian mission, in suburban Delmas. Police detonated the grenade, and
there were no injuries or damage.  Last week, gunmen shot and killed
U.N. employee Garfield Lyle, a Guyanese national, at the wheel of his
vehicle. Police are still investigating.  No one has claimed
responsibility for the attacks.  Haiti has been without a parliament
since January 1999, when President Rene Preval, an Aristide ally, locked
lawmakers out of Parliament after an 18-month power struggle with the
majority party.