27168: Karshan (article) UN admits civilians may have died in Haiti...(The Independent) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

mkarshan@aol.com

The Independent

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UN admits civilians may have died in Haiti
peacekeeping raid
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 10 January 2006

The UN has for the first time admitted that a number
of innocent civilians may have become "collateral
victims" and killed during a controversial raid by
peacekeeping forces in Haiti. The admission will
likely add to the tension inside the capital city,
Port-au-Prince, already wracked by violence and chaos
? and the recent suicide of the UN military commander
- as it prepares for a crucial election.

The summary of an internal inquiry, passed to The
Independent, says a number of people may been caught
in crossfire between UN peacekeepers and armed gang
members, headed by a well-known leader, Emanuel
"Dread" Wilme. The report claims that UN troops fired
only in self-defence.

The raid involving 400 peacekeepers took place last
July in the Cite Soleil slum with the stated intention
of cracking-down on gangs responsible for ongoing
violence and kidnappings in the capital. Many of the
gangs are supporters of former president,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Mr Aristide, democratically
elected and with overwhelming support among the poor,
was ousted two years ago following an uprising
organised mainly by members of the business elite who
had received support from the US.

Video footage taken after the raid showed the bodies
of numerous apparently unarmed victims. Independent
witnesses said up to 23 people were killed ? among
them the wife and two young sons of Fredi Romelus, a
Cite Soleil resident who told reporters that UN troops
opened fire on his home. " They surrounded our
house... and I ran thinking my wife and the children
were behind me. They couldn't get out and the [UN]
fired into the house," he said.

The admission by the UN mission (MINUSTAH) that
civilians may have been killed "given the length of
the operation and the violence of the clashes" will do
nothing to ease the fraught situation in Haiti, where
a presidential election has been repeatedly delayed.
The delays have been blamed on the violence and
problems with distributing voter identification cards.


The business community has called on the UN to do more
to stop the violence and yesterday a national strike
was held in protest. But supporters of Mr Aristide say
this is nothing more than excuse to clamp down further
on members of his Lavalas party. Human rights
campaigners have detailed widespread suppression of
Lavalas members by the interim government and the
Haitian National Police.

Among the cases highlighted by Amnesty International
is that of Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest
and friend of Mr Aristide, who has been held without
charge since last summer. Officials say Mr Jean-Juste,
59, recently diagnosed with leukemia, is being held on
suspicion of involvement in a murder but AI said "he
is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for the
peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of
expression".

Despite its admission that civilians may have been
shot, the UN claims the majority of those died last
July were actually killed by other gang members in
reprisal for collaborating with the UN or else
celebrating the death of Mr Wilme. It described the
video footage a "manifest example" of disinformation.

Kevin Pina, the Haitian-based journalist who heads a
team that shot the footage, dismissed the UN's claims.
"I personally handed a copy of that video to [the UN
special envoy, Juan] Valdes at JFK airport. He
described it as propaganda and lies without even
looking at it. They are predisposed to saying this.
They do not want to look at the evidence."

He said he met recently with Mr Romelus, whose family
was killed. "His life has been destroyed. If I can
find him, why can't the UN find him and interview
him?"

Mr Pina said the UN had now established a system of
embedding journalists with peacekeeping forces. He
also said the US and Canada were funding programmes to
train Haitian journalists. "They are the ones trying
to control the media and yet they accuse us of
disinformation."

Meanwhile, officials are investigating the apparent
suicide of MINUSTAH's military commander, General
Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacella, whose body was
discovered in his hotel room on Saturday. Mr Bacella,
a Brazilian, took charge of the UN force in September
and was not involved in July's raid.




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