23381: (Chamberlain) Murdered police buried (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 11 (AP) -- Hundreds of wailing mourners gathered to
bury five slain police officers Monday as gunfire crackled around the
capital where clashes between supporters of the U.S.-backed government and
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have plagued peacekeepers.
   Photographs of three officers who were beheaded sat beside their
cremated remains in a police academy where the funerals were held, while
the open caskets of two others shot to death were prepared for burial as
mourners sang hymns.
   Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, President Boniface Alexandre and
Guy Philippe, whose rebels helped oust Aristide in February, attended the
funeral for Jean Rivelino Janvier, who was kidnapped and decapitated;
Anselme Milfranc, who was also kidnapped and decapitated; and Hilaire
Adolphe who was decapitated. Officers Jimmy Cambelland and Jodelet Jean
were shot to death.
   "In the case of Haiti, we know very well that the criminals know what
they are doing," Latortue told mourners. "They want to destabilize the
country."
   At least seven police officers have been killed during a week of
violence that has left more than 29 dead and scores wounded. Several of
those killed were beheaded, although no group has claimed responsibility.
Many Aristide supporters view the police as instruments of the new
U.S.-backed government, which quickly replaced Aristide's administration.
   "It's so dangerous for police now," said Adelin Jean, brother of Jodelet
Jean, a 41-year-old police officer who was shot to death Sept. 28 while on
duty. Jean was to be buried in northern Fort Liberte on the Dominican-Haiti
border.
   Tensions between Aristide supporters and their foes have been high since
February when armed rebels ousted him in a three-week uprising. Aristide,
now living in South Africa, said the United States forced him to leave the
country -- a claim U.S. officials deny.
   The tensions have complicated aid deliveries in flood-ravaged Gonaives,
a northern town where nearly 1,900 people died in Tropical Storm Jeanne.
   Grappling with scattered looting, aid workers were also facing other
security concerns that U.N. and local officials said was gang-related, not
political.
   "Until some security measures are in place, there is no way we can
continue this," Oxfam spokeswoman Maite Alvarez said of the agency's water
distribution and plans to give out hygiene kits.
   A group of men threw rocks at an Oxfam truck Saturday and stole bottled
water as the truck was leaving a warehouse injuring one aid worker, Alvarez
said.
   Residents reported finding a man's body Sunday near a soccer field in
the Park Vincent area of Gonaives, said Heber Pelissier, a local government
official. He said the body reportedly had been decapitated but officials
could not confirm that.
   In the Descahos slum, known for its gang activity, one man was found
with his throat slashed, said Police Chief Bastien Herve. In retaliation
for the killing, gang members from Descahos torched several homes in Park
Vincent early Monday, Herve said.
   U.N. peacekeepers sent to stabilize the country after Aristide's
departure were in Gonaives patrolling and trying to secure aid shipments
   Argentine Commander Gustavo Rodolfo said he believes the violence is
gang-related, not political. Many neighborhoods in Gonaives, where rebels
launched their three-week uprising in February, are still divided
politically.
   Desperation sparked by the devastating floods has inflamed existing
tensions.
   "We have five neighborhoods here, and each one has a gang leader,"
Rodolfo said.
   Two peacekeepers -- one in Gonaives, the other in Port-au-Prince -- were
shot during patrols. The casualties were the first in the 4-month-old
mission.
   About 200 Argentine troops are patrolling Gonaives, while the Uruguayan
troops have left to for other parts of the country. About 25 Jordanian
police remained.
   Parts of Gonaives were still in knee-deep mud nearly three weeks after
the storm struck, and most places were still without electricity and
running water Monday.
   Health officials in Gonaives reported one case of typhoid caused by
contaminated water. The man, in his 50s, was hospitalized Sunday with
severe dehydration and a high fever, said Dr. Yves Jodesty, president of
the Association of Haitian Physicians in South Florida. The man was
transferred to a hospital in St. Marc in stable condition.
   Health officials have also reported a sharp increase in malaria cases in
Gonaives, but figures weren't immediately available.