28659: Chamberlain: UN forces and Haiti gangs clash, two reported dead (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 19 (Reuters) - At least two people were
killed when U.N. troops exchanged gunfire with gangs in Haiti's capital on
Wednesday, a witness said.
     The clash took place near the dangerous slum of Cite Soleil, not far
from the national airport in Port-au-Prince. Panicked passers-by fled the
heavy gunfire.
     "Two ladies who work in a nearby factory were killed by bullets," said
a young man who identified himself as Maxime. "A man who was running away
from the scene of the incidents was shot and fell on the ground."
     "It was a real war," said resident Jackson Jeudi, who took refuge in
abandoned factory in the area.
     U.N. officials said they could not confirm the reports of deaths. U.N.
spokesman David Wimhurst said peacekeepers came under attack and returned
fire.
     The 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force was deployed to the
violence-torn Caribbean country to restore order after the ouster in
February 2004 of then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted by a
bloody rebellion.
     Violence has escalated in recent weeks in Haiti's trouble slums, home
to armed gangs that supported Aristide.
     About 20 people died in clashes between rival gangs in the Martissant
neighborhood two weeks ago.