29901: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-UN-Raid (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By TRENT JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 24 (AP) -- U.N. troops traded gunfire with armed
gangs Wednesday after seizing an abandoned primary school that had been
used to stage attacks on the peacekeepers, a U.N. official said. Witnesses
said one person died and five were injured.
   Blue-helmeted soldiers secured the empty schoolhouse during an early
morning raid in Cite Soleil, a gang-controlled slum on the edge of the
capital of Port-au-Prince, said Sophie de la Combe, a spokeswoman for the
U.N.
   "The gangs were using this house for criminal activities and to shoot on
U.N. troops, putting the population in danger," de La Combe said.
   Troops later came under attack by gang members, setting off a gunbattle
in the squalid, densely populated area.
   Residents of Cite Soleil told The Associated Press that one man died and
five others were wounded, including a young woman shot in the leg and
chest.
   De la Combe could not provide information on casualties.
   Djilale Abdezgigafon, a physician with a Belgian-run Doctors Without
Borders clinic in Cite Soleil said several people were treated for gunshot
wounds but said the injuries were not life-threatening.
   In recent weeks, the 8,800-strong U.N. force has stepped up offensives
in Cite Soleil to root out armed gangs that flourished after a February
2004 revolt toppled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Last month, U.N. troops raided the slum in a crackdown against gangs
wanted in a wave of kidnappings and killings. Witnesses said 10 civilians
were shot to death, but the United Nations said only gang members died.
   Also Wednesday, U.N. officials said a Haitian photojournalist was shot
to death at his home in a violent slum days after he photographed gang
members.
   Jean-Remy Badio, a freelancer, was slain Friday in the southern
Port-au-Prince slum of Martissant, said Fred Blaise, a U.N. police
spokesman. Blaise said gang members were suspected in the shooting but no
arrests have been made.
   International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said Badio
apparently was killed by gang members he had photographed days earlier. It
said Badio's family had reported receiving threats before his killing.