5913: 7 year old girl killed...Violence Casts Shadow Over Election (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier@tradewind.net

Thursday November 23 3:43 PM ET
 Violence Casts Shadow Over Election 
 By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer
 
 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Two bombs exploded in a suburb of
Haiti's capital Thursday, killing a 7-year-old girl on her way to school
 and injuring two other people in a second day of violence ahead of
 weekend elections. The bombs exploded in two separate locations in
suburban Carrefour,the private Radio Metropole reported. Police defused
a third bomb  found on the ground across the street from the
Organization of American States headquarters in the upscale neighborhood
of Petionville. Violence has cast a shadow over Sunday's presidential
election, which is expected to be won by former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. Seven  bombs exploded Wednesday, killing a teen-age boy and
injuring at least  14 on busy streets in and around Port-au-Prince.

 The name of the girl killed Thursday was not immediately available.
Protesters enraged by her death set up flaming tire barricades to block
  Carrefour Road, one of the capital's main thoroughfares.  Fearing for
the safety of their students, many school principals have canceled
classes until Tuesday. American Airlines canceled flights Sunday and
Monday ``due to civil unrest surrounding the elections,''according to an
airline reservations agent who would not give her name. Air France also
called off flights, the French Embassy said, and the Haitian Red Cross
suspended its nighttime ambulance service after an attack on one of its
vehicles. Main opposition parties have boycotted the race, charging that
local and legislative elections earlier this year were rigged by the
government in favor of Aristide's Lavalas Family party, which won more
than 80 percent of the seats. Aristide's Lavalas Family party and
opposition spokesmen have accused each other of being responsible for
the recent surge of violence.