#700: Gunmen kill Haitian slated for top security post (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

                Gunmen kill Haitian slated for top security post


     By Jennifer Bauduy

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A former Haitian army colonel who
was to head a controversial government post that oversees the police was
shot dead by gunmen in central Port-au- Prince, local radio stations
reported on Saturday.
     Jean Lamy was travelling in his car on Friday evening on Lalue, a main
Port-au-Prince street, when gunmen opened fire at his car, Radio Vision
2000 reported.
     Lamy, a close friend of President Rene Preval and of former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was rushed to the State University of Haiti
hospital where he died shortly after from gunshot wounds to the head.
     Preval, his wife Guerda, police chief Pierre Denize, and former army
major Dany Toussaint went to the hospital, according to Vision 2000.
     Lamy was expected to replace Robert Manuel as Secretary of State for
Public Security, which oversees Haiti's police.
     Lamy, who was a consultant to Haiti's national police force, was
assassinated the same day Manuel's resignation became public in Haiti.
     Lavalas Family, a political party founded by Aristide, in April and
May launched a series of violent protests calling on both Manuel and Denize
to step down.
     Protesters claimed Manuel and Denize were not doing enough to stop
rising crime in the country.
     Critics said Lavalas Family wanted to gain control of Haiti's
four-year old police force by replacing the leadership with Aristide
supporters.
     Lamy belonged to a group of former soldiers from Haiti's dismantled
army loyal to Aristide.
     Aristide, a former charismatic priest, was overthrown by the army in
1991, and was returned to power by a U.S.-led invasion of 20,000 troops in
1994.
     Aristide dissolved the army just before he left the presidency in
February 1996.