29983: (news) Chamberlain: UN troops storm Haiti slum, in gunfight with gang (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Hundreds of U.N. soldiers
stormed a slum neighborhood in Haiti's capital on Friday to try to wrest
control from a criminal gang, prompting a gunfight that killed one person
and wounded several others, including two peacekeepers.
     More than 700 U.N. troops from seven nations moved into the Cite
Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince around 3 a.m. to arrest a feared gang leader
known as Evans and take over territory occupied by his armed gang.
    "The gangsters shot thousands of rounds at our troops when we entered
the slum this morning," the Brazilian U.N. troops' commander, Col. Barrosso
Magno, said from the scene.
    "We know that one person was killed and several others wounded."
     A U.N. spokesman, Jean Jacques Simon, said two peacekeepers were
slightly injured during the operation, one from Jordan and another from
Bolivia. But a U.N. military official said the Bolivian soldier was hurt in
a road accident.
     The dead person was not identified.
     Magno said the peacekeepers have taken over key positions held by the
gangs.
     U.N. peacekeepers deployed in Haiti since June 2004 and local police
have been stepping up efforts to quell criminal gangs blamed for much of
Haiti's violence and kidnappings.
     The raid came two hours after a kidnapped missionary was freed
unharmed following payment of a ransom.
     Nathan Jean Dieudonne, a U.S. missionary of Haitian origin, was
abducted at gunpoint on Sunday on his way back from church in the
Croix-des-Bouquets suburb of Port-au-Prince. He was released about 1 a.m.
on Friday, said Fred Blaise, a spokesman for the U.N. police in Haiti.
     "He is safe and sound and he was not physically mistreated," Blaise
said.
      He said Dieudonne's family paid a ransom but would not disclose the
amount. Dieudonne's associates had said the kidnappers initially demanded
$500,000.
     Haitian police and U.S. FBI agents participated in negotiations to
secure Dieudonne's release, according to the head of Haiti's
anti-kidnapping police, Commissioner Henry Dossous.
     Dieudonne, 58, runs a Protestant church known as Bethel d'Haiti.
Police said he was driving with three other people when gunmen halted the
car and abducted him, then let the other passengers go.
     Dieudonne had lived in the U.S. state of Virginia, where his wife is
from, but the couple had mostly lived in Haiti since the 1980s, his
associates said.