29713: (news) Chamberlain: At least nine killed in Haitian slum raid (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec 22 (Reuters) - At least nine people were
killed in Haiti's largest slum on Friday during a raid by security forces
targeting armed gangs blamed for a recent surge in kidnappings and other
crimes in the capital Port-au-Prince.
     It was one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the chaotic Caribbean
country in more than a year and came hours after the U.N. chief envoy to
Haiti, Edmond Mulet, said the government had given the go-ahead for a
crackdown on areas controlled by gangs.
     About 400 U.N. soldiers in armored vehicles, backed by Haitian police
forces, stormed a district called Bwa Nef in the volatile slum of Cite
Soleil in a move to dislodge heavily armed gang members led by a young man
known as Belony.
     A Reuters photographer counted nine bodies from the clashes that
ensued and eyewitnesses counted four others dead.
     As many as 30 people were wounded, humanitarian aid workers said.
     All of the casualties were believed to be civilians.
     "The foreigners came shooting for hours without interruption and
killed 10 people," Johnny Claircidor, a resident of Bwa Nef, told Reuters.
"Then Belony's gang members started to exchange fire with them", he said.
"I personally counted 10 bodies," Claircidor said.
     The spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Sophie De
la Combe, declined to provide a toll.
     "No one was killed or injured on our side, but it's difficult for us
to know for now how many bandits could have been killed or wounded," said
De la Combe.
     The U.N. operation, conducted jointly with the Haitian police, was
launched at about 3 a.m. and was led by Brazilian peacekeepers.
     "The operation was conducted to address the current insecurity caused
by the recent wave of kidnappings in the capital Port-au-Prince," said Jean
Saint-Fleur, the director of Haiti's Administrative Police.
     He too said he was unable to give an official death toll from the Cite
Soleil fighting.
     "They came here to terrorize the population," Rose Martel, a slum
dweller, told Reuters, referring to the police and U.N. troops.
     "I don't think they really killed the bandits, unless they consider
all of us as bandits," she said.