24075: (pub) Chamberlain: UN troops fire tear gas at crowd (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 13 (AP) -- U.N. peacekeepers fired tear gas into a
crowd at a food distribution site in northern Haiti on Thursday after
people started throwing rocks at troops, a U.N. official said.
   At least 30 people were treated for gas inhalation and skin irritation
in the flood-ravaged city of Gonaives, said Dan Moskaluk, a spokesman for
U.N. police in Haiti.
   It was unclear why the crowd started throwing rocks at the Argentine
peacekeepers, who were providing security at a CARE distribution site in a
Gonaives slum.
   Skirmishes are not uncommon during relief efforts in Gonaives, where
floods killed at least 1,900 people and left another 1,000 missing and
presumed dead when Tropical Storm Jeanne struck in September.
   The disaster destroyed agriculture and left hundreds homeless, straining
U.N. peacekeepers struggling to restore stability after the bloody
rebellion in February that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Armed men have attacked relief vehicles, while U.N. troops have been
forced to disperse desperate crowds shoving to get food.