25642: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Slain Gangster (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By LEONARDO ALDRIDGE

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 9 (AP) -- Hundreds of slum dwellers followed the
funeral procession Saturday of a powerful gang leader reportedly killed in
a U.N. raid on a shantytown teeming with armed loyalists of ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Mourners, some playing trumpets and drums, carried the casket of
Emmanuel "Dread" Wilme through Cite Soleil, a seaside slum outside the
capital of Port-au-Prince.
   The dreadlocked Wilme commanded a gang of young men with weapons ranging
from sawed-off shotguns to AK-47s.
   Hundreds of peacekeepers stormed Cite Soleil on Wednesday, part of an
effort to clamp down on politically aligned gangs that have been accused of
waging a campaign of violence to destabilize Haiti ahead of October and
November elections.
   Former Cite Soleil Mayor Ernest Erilus said Wilme was killed in the
raid.
   Dozens of tearful Haitians called radio stations upon hearing the news,
saying Wilme had looked out for his poor neighbors.
   Lt. Col. Jorge Smicelapo, a spokesman for Brazilian troops leading the
7,400-member U.N. mission, confirmed that five people were killed in the
operation but could not say if Wilme was among them.
   Gangs have been blamed for a recent wave of kidnappings that have added
to a climate of fear in Port-au-Prince. More than 700 people have been
killed in the capital since September when Aristide loyalists stepped up
protests to demand his return from exile in South Africa.
   Aristide was ousted in a February 2004 armed revolt.