26600: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Violence (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov 15 (AP) -- U.N. peacekeepers and gang members traded
gunfire Tuesday in the volatile Cite Soleil slum of the Haitian capital,
leaving at least four people dead, witnesses and a U.N. official said.
   The deaths were the latest casualties from sporadic clashes between
gangs and U.N. troops, who were called to the country following the ouster
of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   The bodies of two young men were displayed by gang members in the slum.
U.N. military spokesman Col. El Ouafi Boulbars said the bodies of two other
suspected gang members were turned over to police.
   Gang members say at least a dozen people have died in the area over the
past week. U.N. military spokesman Col. El Ouafi Boulbars said it was not
possible to provide an exact death toll, but confirmed that several
suspected gang members had been killed in recent clashes.
   Boulbars said peacekeepers arrested 29 suspected gang members during
Tuesday's raid.
   Over the weekend, peacekeepers killed one suspect during a series of
sweeps to root out well-armed gangs in several areas of the capital, a U.N.
statement said. Peacekeepers also made nine arrests and seized an
unspecified number of weapons and stolen vehicles.
   "The situation is very tense. We're reacting to heavy pressure from the
gangs and the situation has begun to degenerate," Boulbars said.
   There have been no reports of U.N. casualties in the latest violence,
Boulbars said.
   Gang leader William Batiste accused U.N. peacekeepers of firing without
provocation and of wounding unarmed civilians in the crossfire.
   "They shoot at us every single day," Batiste said. "It's persecution."
   Cite Soleil, home to about 200,000 people, is among the most lawless and
violent areas in Haiti, with numerous well-armed gangs that authorities
claim are loyal to Aristide, who was forced from power in February 2004
following a violent uprising.
   Haiti's interim government and international authorities have pressed
the U.N. peacekeepers to crack down on the gangs ahead of national
elections tentatively scheduled for next month.