27064: (news) Chamberlain: Haitian presidential candidate held on gun charge (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 2 (Reuters) - A former Haitian police chief
and ex-senator who is running for president was arrested by U.N. troops and
Haitian police on weapons charges, police said on Monday.
     Dany Toussaint was held for questioning by Chilean soldiers from the
U.N. peacekeeping force after he was found with several illegal weapons
during a visit to the northern city of Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest
city, police sources said.
     The weapons included firearms that Toussaint had obtained from Haiti's
Parliament for his personal protection when he was a senator from 2000 to
2004, a police commissioner in Cap-Haitien, who asked not to be named, told
Reuters on Monday. His authorization to carry those weapons ended when his
senate term ended.
     "Dany Toussaint was carrying several weapons for which he has no valid
authorization," said the police official who added Toussaint would have to
appear before a judge to defend himself.
     Toussaint, who was police chief in 1995, was apparently visiting the
northern region to campaign as part of his presidential bid. He was being
held on Monday night at the police station in Cap-Haitien under special
surveillance.
     Toussaint is suspected of drug trafficking by U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration officials in Port-au-Prince but has never been charged with
drug crimes by the United States and has denied involvement in criminal
activities.
     A recent opinion survey conducted by CID-Gallup for the U.S. Agency
for International Development, showed Toussaint with support from only 2
percent of likely voters in the presidential election, while former
President Rene Preval led with 32 percent.
     Presidential and legislative elections were scheduled to take place on
Jan. 8 but the vote has been postponed for a fourth time because of
technical problems.
     Authorities still have to determine a new schedule for the vote, which
would be the first elections since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was
forced into exile during an armed rebellion in February 2004. U.N. forces
were sent in afterward to help stabilize the nation.