24244: (news) Chamberlain: Haitian police, U.N. troops raid ex-soldiers' base (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Haitian police backed by
U.N. troops on Thursday stormed the base of rebel former soldiers that the
government accused of killing four policemen in an armed attack earlier in
the week.
     One young girl was shot dead during the raid in Petionville on the
outskirts of Port-au-Prince, witnesses said. A police spokeswoman said no
policemen were hurt and three people were arrested.
     The four police officers were killed in the residential Clercine
neighborhood late on Sunday, not far from a base for U.N. peacekeepers. The
policemen had been assigned to protect a music band joining the main
downtown parade at the start of the pre-Lenten carnival celebration that
ended with Mardi Gras on Tuesday.
     The police spokeswoman, Jessie Coicou, said the attackers had been
identified as former members of the military, which was disbanded a decade
ago. The former soldiers' leader, Ravix Remissainthe, denied the
accusations.
     A spokesman for U.N. troops, Col. Carlos Chagas, said the U.N.
peacekeeping mission was not informed about the police raid before it was
conducted, and was called in to help only after police initiated the
operation.
     "Even though we had not been aware of the operation, when we were
called, we sent troops to support the Haitian police that were dealing with
a difficult situation," Chagas told Reuters.
     He said 150 U.N. troops and police officers equipped with three
armored vehicles participated in the operation.
     A girl, under 10 years old, was killed when police fired at a vehicle
near the former soldiers' base, according to Jean-Baptiste Inexan, the
car's driver.
     "I saw (a group of) policemen who took cover in a corner. I had two
children with me, I put my hands up and  said (to the police) 'I have two
children with me, may I back off?"' Inexan told journalists.
     "One of them told me I could. Then once I started to back off they
opened fire," Inexan said.
     One girl was killed instantly and the other was hit by a bullet that
crushed her ankle, he said.
     U.N. officials said they were aware of the killing but denied
responsibility in the shooting.
     "When U.N. troops arrived, a lot of gunfire could be heard, but our
troops fired not one shot," Chagas said.
     U.N. soldiers and police have been trying to help restore order in
Haiti since shortly after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into
exile in February 2004, pushed out by an armed revolt and U.S. pressure.
     Haitian former troops, now a ragged rebel force that pushed out
Aristide, still control parts of the impoverished Caribbean nation of 8
million people. More than 240 people have been killed in political and gang
violence since early September.
     Hours before Thursday's raid, Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue
announced a drive to disarm all illegal armed groups.
     "Today the police are fully committed, in cooperation with the U.N.
mission, to launch the disarmament program to take the arms off the hands
of all those who possess illegal weapons and who commit crimes such as the
one that occurred on Sunday," Latortue said.