29938: Potemaksonje (News) Civilians caught in crossfire during Port-au-Prince raids (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Potemaksonje@yahoo.com

CIVILIANS CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE DURING PORT-AU-PRINCE
RAIDS
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

Published: 02 February 2007 THE INDEPENDENT
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2208262.ece


The head of the UN mission to Haiti has publicly
acknowledged international peacekeepers carrying out
anti-kidnapping raids into the poorest parts of the
city have to do more to avoid civilian casualties. His
comments come after a series of raids in the capital,
Port-au-Prince, in which witnesses said a number of
innocent bystanders were either killed or wounded by
peacekeepers.

"We have to improve, we have to be all the time
learning from this," said Ambassador Edmond Mulet,
head of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in
Haiti (Minustah). "We have learned lessons every time
we have [had] these actions."

Mr Mulet made his comments to The Independent
following a presentation in Washington in which the
envoy outlined some of the multitude of problems
facing Haiti, the poorest country in the western
hemisphere and where 70 per cent of the population
survive on less than $2 a day.

The envoy denied reports that UN peacekeepers had
fired from helicopters, hindered Red Cross volunteers
or used "heavy munitions" in the raids on December 22,
December 28 and January 5. But during his presentation
this week at the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS) he admitted: "There has
been collateral damage. Definitely."

It is unclear how many people were killed in the
December 22 raid in the densely-populated slum areas
of Cite Soleil when several hundred Brazilian UN
soldiers launched a pre-dawn raid aimed at capturing
known gang leaders.

Mr Mulet said around 12 or 13 people were killed, of
which 10 were known gang members; other unconfirmed
reports have put the death toll higher. A number of
people were also injured.

John Carroll, an Illinois-based doctor who runs a
charity that provides medical aid to Haitian children,
said he travelled to Cite Soleil after the raid and
spoke with people who had been injured. He also
visited St CatherineÕs Hospital, one of the few
clinics in Cite Soleil.

"I spoke with the family with holes in their roof.
They said the helicopter fired down on Cite Soleil for
3 hours. I saw the holes in the roof and the holes in
the people," he said. "I went to St. Catherine's
Hospital in Cite Soleil. I did not interview any
doctors. I examined the patients myself and their
stories seemed to correspond with their injuries."

Mr Carroll said that in the slum he spoke with a woman
who gave her name as Immacula. She said that three of
her daughters - aged 13, 15 and 17 - received bullet
and shrapnel injuries as a result of the raid. Mr
Carroll wrote on his blog: "Immacula said the bullets
from the helicopter came blasting in through their
ceiling. Looking up, I could see a 12 inch hole above
my head letting in the sunlight, and multiple other
smaller holes peppered the roof above me to the left."

Minustah say they have been tasked by the Haitian
government, headed by President Rene Preval, to carry
out the raids against gang members believed to be
responsible for the kidnappings that in recent months
have again soared in Port-au-Prince. In one notorious
incident last month a group of schoolchildren were
taken from the bus and held hostage. It is
predominantly the poor who suffer as a result of the
ongoing insecurity.

The December 22 raid in the Bwa Nef district of Cite
Soleil targeted a gang led by a man called Belony.
Officials said a subsequent raid on January 5 led to
the arrest of two members of BelonyÕs gang, including
a man called Zachari, who were sought over the their
alleged involvement in the killing of two UN
peacekeepers from Jordan last November.

But local people and campaigners point out that given
the densely populated nature of the slums and the fact
that the shanties in which people live offer no
protection against gunfire, such raids routinely
result in innocent people being killed. The UN and the
Haitian National Police also claim that gang members
in the slums have shot residents and then blamed the
authorities for these deaths - a claim for which no
evidence has been offered.

Following the December raid, Johnny Claircidor, a
resident of Bwa Nef, told the Reuters newsagency, "The
foreigners came shooting for hours without
interruption and killed 10 people. Then Belony's gang
members started to exchange fire with them. I
personally counted 10 bodies."

The series of raids over Christmas and the New Year
were not the first time the 7,000-strong UN
peacekeeping force in Haiti has been at the centre of
controversy. In July 2005 a UN raid, again in Cite
Soleil, resulted in the death of up to 23 people. The
raid was carried out to target a gang leader, Dread
Wilme, but later Minustah admitted that civilians may
have been killed "given the length of the operation
and the violence of the clashes". It emerged UN troops
had fired more than 22,000 bullets.

An internal report from the US Embassy in Haiti,
recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) by the Haiti Information Project (HIP), noted:
"[An official] with Minustah acknowledged that, given
the flimsy construction of homes in Cite Soleil and
the large quantity of ammunition expended, it is
likely that rounds penetrated many buildings, striking
unintended targets."

Since the beginning of January UN forces have set up
round-blocks around Cite Soleil in an effort to dampen
violence. But some activists say such arrangements,
along with disruption to the areaÕs fragile water
supply, has only made life more miserable for the
residents. Brian Concannon, who heads the US-based
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, said:
"This is beginning to resemble collective punishment
against the residents of Cite Soleil. There is more to
this than just the issue of gangs and alleged
kidnappers."

Mr Preval was elected last February in elections
organised by the UN. The election followed two years
of rule by an interim government, imposed by the US,
France and Canada following the ousting of President
Jean-Betrand Aristide, who had been elected to office
for a second term in November 2000. Some of his
opponents received backing and support from elements
in Washington. Mr Aristide is currently living in
South Africa.



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