27226: Wharram (news( Tension mounts in Haiti's slums (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Bruce Wharram

 Posted on Fri, Jan. 13, 2006


Tension mounts in Haiti's slums
1 DEAD AFTER PEACEKEEPERS, GANGS CLASH
By Ben Fox
Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Chanting protesters filled the narrow streets of a
notorious slum Thursday to denounce violence and political chaos after
clashes between gangs and U.N. peacekeepers reportedly killed one person and
wounded at least 17.

Hundreds of people, including political activists, gang members and
children, shuffle-danced to the blaring of horns and banging of drums toward
two U.N. armored personnel carriers at the edge of Cité Soleil, then veered
off toward the sea without confronting the peacekeepers who patrol the
slum's perimeter.

Organizers said they feared that U.N. peacekeeping troops would soon attack
Cité Soleil, a warren of bullet-riddled shanties with raw sewage flowing in
trash-clogged canals.

The peacekeepers are under pressure to take more aggressive measures against
slum gangs that authorities have blamed for a wave of kidnappings in the
Haitian capital.

Wednesday, shooting broke out between the two sides after nightfall,
according to aid workers and residents.

Sushil Kujur, who works at a Missionaries of Charity clinic at the edge of
the slum, said workers treated seven people with gunshot wounds, including a
man who was shot in the abdomen and died on the way to a hospital. Ten other
people were treated by the Belgian and French sections of the aid group
Médecins Sans Frontières, officials said.

Kujur said his clinic has treated about 70 people for gunshot wounds in the
past four months, including 10 who later died, and that some were not
involved in clashes with U.N. troops.

The aid groups said they couldn't be certain where the gunfire came from.

Cité Soleil, home to about 300,000 people, is a stronghold for supporters of
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced to flee the country
after a rebellion nearly two years ago, and of René Préval, a onetime ally
of the ousted president who is considered the front-runner in the Feb. 7
presidential election.



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