29363: (news) Chamberlain: At least three said killed in clash in Haiti slum (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Oct 19 (Reuters) -  At least three people were
killed in Haiti's largest and most dangerous slum on Thursday when a
protest over the alleged destruction of homes by U.N. peacekeepers turned
violent, witnesses said.
     Residents of Cite Soleil -- a teeming warren of shantytowns on the
southern tip of Port-au-Prince -- said the victims were shot dead by
Brazilian peacekeepers.
     The shootings came after angry protesters confronted the U.N. troops
and accused them of razing homes to make way for a road, according to the
witnesses, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.
     A spokeswoman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Sophie
Boutaud de la Combe, said she was unable to say whether anyone was killed
or wounded during the clash.
     But she said U.N. peacekeepers had only been trying to break down a
number of low-lying walls, to open up access to a paved road, when they
returned fire after coming under attack from one of Cite Soleil's notorious
armed gangs.
     A Reuters' reporter saw the body of a middle-aged man killed during
the clash, but was unable to confirm other deaths or witness claims that at
least three children were injured.
     Marc Evans Jean, one eyewitness, said someone had tried to hurl a
Molotov cocktail at the peacekeepers but insisted no gunshots were fired at
them.
     Several armed groups in the impoverished Caribbean nation are believed
to be loyal to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced from
power in February 2004 by an armed rebellion and pressure from the United
States and France. U.N. peacekeepers were deployed four months later to
stabilize the country.