25100: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Former Premier Neptune

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PETER PRENGAMAN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 14 (AP) -- A jailed former premier who has been a
hunger strike for nearly a month is in "relatively good health," Haiti's
interim government said Saturday, contradicting his lawyer and family who
said he was near death.
   Former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, 58, has been jailed for 10 months
without charge. He stopped eating April 17 to demand his unconditional
release, his second hunger strike in recent months.
   A psychiatrist visited Neptune for two hours on May 6 reported that
Neptune did not display "any physical alteration that could justify urgent
measures," interim Justice Minister Bernard Gousse said in a statement
Saturday.
   "The report confirms that Mr. Neptune enjoys relatively good health,"
Gousse said.
   It was not immediately clear if government officials have visited
Neptune since May 6. Calls to the government were not immediately returned.
   Neptune's daughter, Maryvonne Neptune, on Wednesday pleaded for the
international community to intervene, saying her father could no longer
walk without help.
   The government accuses Neptune of orchestrating political killings
during a February 2004 rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, allegations he denies.
   Meanwhile, U.N. officials reported that a Jordanian police officer was
killed May 7 in Port-au-Prince after his rifle went off accidentally,
becoming the seventh peacekeeper to die since the U.N. mission arrived in
Haiti nearly a year ago.