30099: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-UN-Slum Raid (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 28 (AP) -- U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police
seized the last remaining gang stronghold in Haiti's largest slum on
Wednesday, the latest in a series of military crackdowns aimed at
stabilizing the impoverished and divided Caribbean nation.
   No shots were fired as scores of U.N. troops entered the seaside slum of
Cite Soleil in armored vehicles and on foot, giving the international force
sole authority over the lawless area for the first time, according to one
U.N. official.
   The soldiers took over the gritty Bois Neuf quarter, a base for armed
gangs blamed for a wave of kidnappings and killings. Seven suspected gang
members were arrested in the raid but their leader, known as Beloney,
managed to escape.
   It was the last gang stronghold in Cite Soleil not occupied by the
9,000-strong U.N. force, known by its French acronym, MINUSTAH.
Peacekeepers seized two other gang strongholds during raids earlier this
month.
   "In terms of territory, 100 percent of Cite Soleil is now controlled ...
by MINUSTAH with the support of the Haitian government," Brazilian military
commander Col. Magno Barroso told The Associated Press.
   But U.N. spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe gave a more conservative
assessment, saying only that peacekeepers "had established a presence
everywhere that gangs had controlled," but do not have full control over
the entire slum.
   Wednesday's raid coincided with the third anniversary of the uprising
that toppled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first
democratically elected leader. Aristide went into exile in South Africa.
   At the United Nations in New York, U.N. deputy special representative
Joel Bortroue said the Haitian government desperately needs the support of
the international community if the fledgeling democracy is to stay afloat.
   He said that countries such as Haiti, which are coming out of long
periods of conflict, have a strong tendency to relapse unless there is
"strong and coherent support from the international community."
   Bortroue said funds must be "injected" into impoverished areas in the
form of food distribution and school funding, as well as labor intensive
projects such as rebuilding schools and cleaning canals that could spur
economic development.
   "There is an urgency ... to show the population there's a difference
between the time when gangsters used to run the show and when the
government runs the show now," Bortroue said.