27083: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Candidate (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

   By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 3 (AP) -- A presidential candidate wanted for
questioning in the 2000 slaying of a prominent journalist was detained for
nine hours for allegedly carrying unregistered weapons in his car, a member
of his political party said Tuesday.
   Dany Toussaint, a former army major and senator running for president on
a pledge to restore order to chaotic Haiti, was arrested Monday by U.N.
peacekeepers at a checkpoint, said Ulrick Gabriel Fils-Aime, a senate
candidate from Toussaint's Democratic Movement of Haiti Party.
   Toussaint, 48, was arrested in the northern town of Cap Haitien and
released nine hours later, Fils-Aime said.
   Fils-Aime said the permits for the weapons had expired, "but it was an
arbitrary act to hold him for nine hours. The police were being
overzealous," he said.
   Police Chief Mario Andresol said Toussaint was detained after
peacekeepers found the weapons in his car.
   "This is purely a police operation, there is no political undertone,"
Andresol said.
   The U.N. mission was called to Haiti after a rebellion forced the ouster
of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
   Toussaint, one of 35 candidates for president, was a former ally and
bodyguard of the ousted president. Toussaint runs a private security
company in the impoverished country, which is plagued by kidnappings.
   Thirty kidnappings were reported in Haiti in November and 30 in the
first week of December alone, according to police. The actual number is
probably much higher because many families prefer to negotiate with
kidnappers rather than notify police.
   Toussaint had been summoned to appear before a judge for questioning as
a suspect in the 2000 slaying of prominent radio journalist and Aristide
opponent Jean Dominique. He refused, however, to respond to the summons and
the Senate refused to lift his parliamentary immunity.