Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Top Haitian lawmaker wounded by gunfire
06-15-2006

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): A top lawmaker from Haiti's recently installed parliament was shot several times while driving in Port-au-Prince this week, the chamber of deputies' president said late Tuesday.

Arodon Bien-Aime, the chamber's number-two secretary, was being treated at a hospital after Monday night's shooting, according to chamber president Pierre-Eric Jean-Jacques.

"The deputy was hit by several bullets fired by unknown shooters as he drove in the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac neighborhood" in the north of the capital, he said.

Some lawmakers said Bien-Aime may have been the victim of a kidnapping attempt.

Haiti has been plagued by violence and kidnappings, although the UN Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) recently announced a drop in abductions.

Haiti's parliament was sworn in last month, more than two years after former president Jean Bertrand Aristide fled a popular uprising. MINUSTAH was deployed later to stabilize the Caribbean nation.