28957: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Gang Leader (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 21 (AP) -- The leader of a major gang on Monday
defied Haitian President Rene Preval's orders to disarm, saying his
followers would give up their weapons only if U.N. peacekeepers stop
conducting raids in the slums.
   Earlier this month, Preval told gang members suspected of being behind a
surge of kidnappings and attacks in this impoverished Caribbean nation that
they must disarm or face being killed. Gang leader Amaral Duclona's refusal
comply sets up one of the biggest challenges to Preval since he became
president in May.
   Duclona said he and his men in the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil
had planned to disarm on Monday but reconsidered because of what he called
deadly raids by U.N. troops.
   "As long as (U.N. troops) keep attacking, we are not going to lay down
our weapons," Duclona told reporters in the seaside slum, sitting on a red
motor scooter.
   A military official denied that U.N. troops were launching unprovoked
attacks in Cite Soleil, a densely populated shantytown lined with
bullet-pocked concrete homes, burned-out cars and mounds of trash.
   "If armed gangs do not attack us, we will not fire at them," said Lt.
Cmdr. Neuzivaldo Dos Anjos, a spokesman for the military of Brazil, which
is heading up the 8,800-strong U.N. force in Haiti.
   U.N. peacekeepers were deployed to Haiti to help restore order following
the 2004 revolt that toppled then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now
exiled in South Africa. Preval is hugely popular among Haiti's poor masses
and had pledged to crack down on violence and encourage foreign investment.
   The United Nations mission in Haiti and the government had no immediate
comment on Duclona's statements.