27445: Hermantin(News)A place of danger (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

lhermantin@hotmail.com

Miami Herald

Posted on Fri, Feb. 03, 2006



A place of danger




In Haiti's Cité Soleil, a burgeoning outburst of political violence has made 
the notorious Port-au-Prince slum the focus of concern as the country 
approaches presidential and legislative elections on Tuesday.

The international aid agency Oxfam said Thursday that fear of armed violence, 
including the bloodshed in Cité Soleil that has killed or wounded more than 250 
since Dec. 1, is discouraging Haitians from voting.

Lt. Gen. José Elito Carvalho de Siqueira, commander of U.N. peacekeepers in 
Haiti, said international troops and police will work with Haitian authorities 
to make sure people can vote in the first election since President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in 2004.

''All the voting points around the country will be safe for the vote,'' Elito 
told reporters in Haiti. ``The people that want to can go out and vote and come 
back home.''

About 85 percent of Haiti's 4.5 million eligible voters have registered to 
choose a new president and legislature in Tuesday's vote, which will replace 
the interim government imposed after Aristide's ouster.