24313: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Prison Attack (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PETER PRENGAMAN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 19 (AP) -- Heavily armed gunmen attacked Haiti's
national penitentiary Saturday, killing one guard in a shootout that
allowed some prisoners to escape, Haitian and U.N. peacekeeping officials
said. Guards rushed two jailed allies of ousted leader President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to a secret location when inmates began rioting.
   Damian Onses-Cardona, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force, told
The Associated Press that former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and former
Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert were later turned over to U.N.
soldiers.
   "They are now in the protective custody of the U.N.," Onses-Cardona
said. "They have agreed to return to the prison."
   Authorities were investigating whether the attack was aimed at freeing
Neptune and Privert, but neither man tried to get away, Onses-Cardona said.
Some prisoners did escape, but it was not clear how many, he said.
   Black and beige rubber sandals of the type worn by inmates were
scattered just outside the stone and brick prison, where the wall was
pockmarked with several bullet holes and the pavement littered with spent
ammunition.
   The attack began when three or four men dressed in black and armed with
assault rifles drove up to the prison in a jeep and began firing into the
air Saturday afternoon, touching off a brief gunbattle with guards,
witnesses said.
   At least one guard was killed, said police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou,
adding that authorities had no information about a possible motive or
suspects.
   Police swarmed around the prison, setting up roadblocks and searching
cars. Hundreds of onlookers also gathered outside the prison.
   Dozens of allies of Aristide, who fled the country amid a three-week
rebellion nearly a year ago, were held at the prison. None have been
formally charged.
   Neptune and Privert were accused of orchestrating killings of Aristide
opponents during the February 2004 rebellion in the western town of
Saint-Marc. Both men have said they are innocent.
   In December, gunmen opened fire outside the prison and inmates rioted.
Prison authorities said seven prisoners were killed by other inmates, but
one witness charged guards had killed some prisoners.
   Human rights activists warned then that more riots could be expected at
the prison because it is overcrowded and unsanitary.
   Violence has persisted despite the presence of a 7,400-member U.N.
peacekeeping force in the Caribbean nation and more can be expected as
Aristide partisans prepare to mark the Feb. 29 anniversary of his flight
from the country.
   More than 250 people have died in clashes since September when Aristide
supporters stepped up calls for his return from exile in South Africa.