24608: (news) Chamberlain: Manila to keep troops in Haiti despite attack

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>


    MANILA, April 1 (Reuters) - The Philippines will maintain its 135
troops in Haiti, despite a Filipino soldier coming under fire at a hotel
where U.N. peacekeepers stay, a top official said on Friday.
    Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr, the Philippine representative to the United
Nations, said staff sergeant Rodrigo Galam was not hurt in the first attack
on Philippine troops in the strife-torn Caribbean nation on Thursday.
    "This will not in any way alter our resolve to help bring peace and
stability to that country," Baja said in a statement.
    The soldier was guarding the hotel in the Haitian capital of
Port-au-Prince which will function as the future headquarters of the U.N.
peacekeeping forces in the country.
    At least two Asian peacekeepers -- one Nepalese and one Sri Lankan --
were the first U.N. troops to be killed in Haiti since the international
force went to the country last June.
    U.N. peacekeepers have stepped up efforts to disarm gangs of former
soldiers in the capital in preparation for elections in November 2005.
    Baja said the 7,400-strong Brazilian-led U.N. force had been taking
small arms fire around the capital from former soldiers who control parts
of Haiti and led a revolt that ousted its president last year.