29149: (news) Chamberlain: U.N. troops move into gang strongholds (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Sept 11 (Reuters) - U.N. troops took over
several areas that had been held by illegally armed gangs in the volatile
slums of the Haitian capital on Monday, according to a U.N official who
pledged to bring gang leaders to justice.
     U.N. Special Envoy Edmond Mulet said some of the 9,000 U.N.
peacekeepers sent to stabilize the troubled Caribbean country had been
moved from calm provincial cities and redeployed to surround gangs and
block their getaways in hot spots around the capital of Port-au-Prince.
     "We began to surround the bandits who control Cite Soleil and other
neighboring slums," Mulet told Reuters in an interview.
     "These criminals are wanted by the police and they will have one day
or another to face justice," warned Mulet. "They should know that we are
progressing and we are going to nab them."
     U.N. troops had conducted operations in Cite Militaire and other
neighborhoods near the country's most dangerous shantytown of Cite Soleil,
in the metropolitan area. They set up 32 new checkpoints in parts of the
capital where armed gangs were forced to flee for their lives, Mulet said.
     "We have taken over some of the territories occupied by the bandits,"
including a Cite Militaire building that had been used as a gang base and a
hiding place for kidnap victims, he said.
     Several armed groups are believed to be loyal to former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced from power in February 2004 by an
armed rebellion and by pressure from the United States and France. U.N.
peacekeepers were deployed four months later to stabilize the impoverished
country.
     Some gang members said their movement was politically motivated and
rejected accusations they were bandits.
     "We are not criminals, we are political militants who had to take up
weapons to defend ourselves," said gang leader William Baptiste, known as
Ti Blan.
     U.N. officials said gang leaders who committed atrocities against
innocent citizens will be considered criminals.
     "If someone kidnaps for economic ransom, kill, shoot at innocent
victims, I don't see any political motivation behind that," said Mulet.
      He said U.N. forces continue to come under attack from recalcitrant
gangs, and called on gang members to immediately surrender their weapons.