HAITI: TENSION CONTINUES AS UNITED NATIONS FORCES AND HAITIAN POLICE TRY FOR FORCE ORDER
Record ID:
337887
HAITI: TENSION CONTINUES AS UNITED NATIONS FORCES AND HAITIAN POLICE TRY FOR FORCE ORDER
- Title: HAITI: TENSION CONTINUES AS UNITED NATIONS FORCES AND HAITIAN POLICE TRY FOR FORCE ORDER
- Date: 19th October 2004
- Summary: (W8) PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (OCTOBER 18, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV HAITIAN POLICE MEMBERS TAKING POSITIONS IN BELLE AIR NEIGHBOURHOOD; SOLDIER WITH GUN TRAINED ON YOUNG WOMAN ON GROUND 0.05 2. MV HAITIAN POLICE WALKING PAST MAN ON GROUND 0.10 3. MV INTERIOR OF SEARCHED HOUSE; SCU ARRESTED MAN WITH HANDS TIED BEHIND BACK 0.22 4. SLV POLICEMEN RUNNING WITH GUNS 0.25 5. SCU BOY SELLING WATER 0.29 6. SLV PEOPLE IN CROWDED STREET IN PETTION VILLE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PORT-AU-PRINCE 0.39 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) HAITIAN RESIDENT, JEAN CLAUDEGITEAU, SAYING: "The government and the United Nations have to sit down with the political parties and with the retired soldiers because they are Haitians too and if they have complaints, the government has to give them an answer." 100 8. MV LEADER OF THE NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION FRONT, GUY PHILIPPE, ENTERING HOTEL 1.06 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) LEADER OF THE NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION FRONT, GUY PHILIPPE, SAYING: "We knew this problem would happen here in Haiti because when we took over in February, we weren't allowed to do our job here. There were armed gangs here and the new government protected them too much. Now they are traumatizing the population. But the real problem is a lack of political will because we only have the problem in Port-au-Prince. We don't have it in the North, the central plateau or the Northwest because the front and the population were allowed to disarm the armed gangs. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to do that in Port-au-Prince. They excluded those who could help. That's why we have this problem today." 1.54 10. PHILIPPE LOOKING OUT OVER PORT-AU-PRINCE 1.59 12. SLV EXTERIOR OF PROVISIONAL ARGENTINE MILITARY HOSPITAL; MV DOCTOR ENTERING ROOM AT ARGENTINE HOSPITAL WHERE ARGENTINE SERGEANT APOLINARIO GABRIELLE IS; MV DOCTOR ATTENDING TO APOLINARIO GABRIELLE 2.19 13. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) APOLINARIO GABRIELLE SAYING: "During the shooting we had fire coming to the front part of our vehicle. We were attacked from both sides. I stood up as fast as I could and ran to a safer place. While some soldiers were trying to give me medical aid, some others were protecting the place where I was." 2.41 14. SCU WOUNDED ARM OF GABRIELLE; MV ARGENTINE DOCTORS ASSISTING WOUNDED HAITIAN MAN 2.51 (W8) GONAIVES, HAITI (OCTOBER 18, 2004) (REUTERS) 15. SLV ARGENTINE SOLDIERS IN CHECKPOINT; SLV UNITED NATIONS TRUCK ASSIGNED TO ARGENTINE SOLDIERS; SLV ARGENTINE SOLDIERS AT CHECK POINT 3.07 (W8) PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (OCTOBER 18, 2004) (REUTERS) 16. HAS BRAZILIAN UNITED NATIONS SOLDIERS CHECKING CARS; SLV BRAZILIAN SOLDIERS PATROLLING PORT-AU-PRINCE STREETS; SLV EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE 4.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 3rd November 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PORT-AU-PRINCE AND GONAIVES, HAITI
- Country: Haiti
- Reuters ID: LVA4YINO2GM3O6QHKYRE02WKQYDC
- Story Text: Tension continues in Port-au-Prince as U. N. forces
and Haitian police try to force order after at least 50
people died in a recent spate of violence.
Haitian police, backed by U.N. troops, raided
several Port-au-Prince slums to try to control armed gangs
loyal to former President Jean Bertrand Aristide on Monday
(October 18, 2004) on the heels of at least 50 recent killings in
Port-au-Prince attributed to them.
As U.N. forces escorted them, Haitian police officers
entered the Belle Air neighbourhood, searching streets and
houses and arresting suspects. Women and children hovered
on the floor as police interrogated them about the
whereabouts of their relatives, alleged members of
anti-government gangs.
"The only thing I know is that my mother is in a
hospital and I have to go to see her," said one woman.
Haitian authorities have announced that the crackdowns
will continue as they work to dismantle the groups
responsible for recent gang and political violence.
Even as the police operation was taking place, Haitians
went back to work on Monday (October 18). The violence had
paralysed businesses for several days and retailers hoped
for a return to normal daily life despite fears.
"The government and the United Nations have to sit down
with the political parties and with the retired soldiers
because they are Haitians too and if they have complaints,
the government has to give them an answer," said small
business owner Jean Claude Giteau.
Former rebel leader Guy Philippe who led the revolt
that ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide last February,
has become the leader of the National Reconstruction Front
and told Reuters he foresaw the current crisis.
"We knew this problem would happen here in Haiti because
when we took over in February, we weren't allowed to do our
job here. There were armed gangs here, and the new
government protected them too much", said Philippe who is
considering a presidential run for next year's election.
As efforts to restore order at the Haitian capital
continue, gang violence has affected other parts of the
country. One Argentine sergeant, part of the U.N.
peacekeeping force, was recently wounded in an ambush on
night patrol in Gonaives, two hundred kilometers from
Port-Au-Prince.
"During the shooting, we had fire coming to the front
part of our vehicle. We were attacked from both sides. I
stood up as I could and ran to a safer place. While some
soldiers were trying to give me medical aid, some others
were protecting the place where I was," Sergeant Apolinario
Gabrielle told Reuters at a Port-au-Prince provisional
hospital set up by the Argentine Armed Forces since the
floods that killed almost 3,000 people last month.
As part of U.N. forces, more than two hundred Argentine
soldiers have been assigned to Gonaives in recent months in
an international effort to restore peace in the poorest
Caribbean country. Brazilian-led U.N. troops are also out
in force and have set up check points in the streets of
Port-Au-Prince to prevent looting of aid supplies, stop gun
battles and prevent political clashes.
The U.N. force currently has 2,600 soldiers, a
fraction of the 6,700 troops and 1,600 police authorized
for Haiti after a February's revolt.
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