Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
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UN forces raid gang's house in Haiti leaving six wounded

Thursday, January 25, 2007

by: Clarens Renois

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): UN forces raided the Haitian capital's largest shantytown Wednesday to seize a gang's house in an operation that left six people with gunshot wounds, witnesses and UN officials said.

The United Nations peacekeepers' operation was launched in Port-au-Prince's Cite Soleil slum, an area controlled by armed groups.

"We were woken up at 3:00 am (0800 GMT) by intense shooting and we noticed UN tanks in the neighborhood," a Cite Soleil resident told AFP.

With the rising sun, peacekeeper helicopters were still buzzing over the shantytown, while automatic gunfire was heard, jolting the slum's 300,000 residents.

"Six people with gunshot wounds were admitted to hospital, but their injuries are not life-threatening," said a doctor at a local hospital who asked to remain anonymous.

A police source said Haitian police did not take part in the operation, the second in Cite Soleil in four weeks by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), whose mandate is up for renewal by the UN Security Council in February.

Over two decades, Haiti has suffered from political violence and instability, notably since the resignation of then-president Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004 amid a popular uprising.

More than half of the Caribbean island's 8.4 million people live below the extreme poverty line of one dollar a day, according to UN officials.

Security remains a major obstacle to a turnaround.

After Aristide's departure into exile, a force of over 7,200 soldiers and 2,000 police belonging to MINUSTAH went to the impoverished Caribbean country to maintain order while an interim regime sought to restore stability.

The UN force's objective Wednesday "was to secure a house controlled by gangs who regularly exact ransoms from motorists and truckers on a busy route nearby," MINUSTAH spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe told AFP.

The gangs also used the house to launch attacks on UN patrols, she said.

"We intend to expand our presence here to better safeguard Cite Soleil," she said, offering no details of the plan.

The UN blue helmets and Haitian police in a joint-operation had already swept the shantytown on December 22, resulting in at least 10 deaths and dozens of injuries, according to several sources.

Their objective then was to wrest control of a road from Cite Soleil outlaws.

Mid-January, MINUSTAH's new Brazilian commander, General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, announced the force's most important task was to "prevent violence" wreaked on the population by armed groups.

In an interview with Agencia Brasil, the general said Cite Soleil was a hotspot for violence.

"It is the poorest neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and a garrison for three or four heavily armed gangs who have unleashed unspeakable violence against the population," he told the Brazilian news agency.

"MINUSTAH troops patrolling City Soleil are dusted by thousands of shots each day. This proves that there is a large influx of arms and munitions," he said.

In Washington on Wednesday, a conference of experts said that insecurity and impunity in Haiti amid failed police and judicial systems hindered the impoverished country's economic development.

"People are not going to invest with this kind of insecurity," said Mark Schneider, vice president of think tank International Crisis Group.

Despite the UN force's crime-busting efforts since 2004, the experts said it was difficult to counter 20 years of political instability and insecurity in the country.

Haiti's failed judicial system, they agreed, is of special concern, with many judges and lawyers lacking not only a professional background, but often basic office equipment such as paper and pencils.

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