27014: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Peacekeeper Killed (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec 25 (AP) -- A United Nations peacekeeper in Haiti was
shot to death while on patrol in a slum that has seen almost daily violence
since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a U.N. military
spokesman said Sunday.
   The Jordanian soldier was on patrol in Cite Soleil when he was shot in
the head and killed on Saturday, according to Lt. Col. Fernando da Cunha
Mattos, U.N. military spokesman.
   U.N. authorities declined to release further details, including the
soldier's name, which was being withheld pending notification of his
family.
   Cite Soleil, where gunbattles between peacekeepers and gangs take place
almost daily, remains the most insecure place in Haiti ahead of national
elections scheduled for Jan. 8. Observers fear the gangs could disrupt the
elections.
   Haitian police do not enter the slum, which a battalion of 1,500
Jordanian peacekeepers in armored vehicles has pledged to reclaim from the
gangs.
   Some 7,600 U.N. peacekeepers arrived in Haiti in June 2004 to stabilize
the country after Aristide's Feb. 29, 2004, ouster.
   Seven peacekeepers have died in action since June 2004, according to the
U.N.