15507: (Arthur) Haiti: Murderous attack on the country's main electricity plant (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Wednesday, 7 May 2003 12:23 - AHP

Murderous attack on the country's main electricity plant


Péligre's hydro-electric power plant, situated in the Central Plateau, was
attacked on Tuesday night by a group of armed men who killed two security
guards and set fire to the control room.

The two killed were Arnoux Célestin and Esthénio Jean. According to one
policeman, heavily armed men took over the plant in the early hours of the
morning, killed the security guards, mistreated the workers and technicians,
and threatened to blow up the 50-year old facility.

Witnesses said that the attackers set fire to the control room causing the
three turbines to stop working. While escaping, they seized a vehicle
belonging to the Cange Health Centre, and then shot and wounded two policemen
not far from the regional capital, Hinche.

This attack against the Péligre hyrdro-electric power station - planned
during the presidency of Paul Magloire in the 1950s and completed under the
Duvaliers in the 1970s - will have serious consequences for the electricity
supply in the Port-au-Prince region.

Officials from the State electricity company, Electricité d’Haiti (EDH), must
inspect the plant to evaluate the damage, and see what sort of supply can be
restored.

The Central Plateau, on the border with the Dominican Republic, has been the
scene of recent turmoil. For several months, there have been confrontations
between armed men and the police.


(translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group)


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