HAITI: three people injured as U.N. troops and armed gangs trade gunfire in Cite Soleil

Record ID: 664048

  • Title: HAITI: three people injured as U.N. troops and armed gangs trade gunfire in Cite Soleil
  • Date: 12th July 2006
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF HOUSES WITH BULLET HOLES ON THE WALLS (3 SHOTS) PEOPLE POINTING AT BULLET HOLES MORE OF BUILDINGS WITH BULLET HOLES (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8T5N4MUGEV1UJBYTL8XLCOIBN
  • Story Text: U.N. troops and armed gangs traded gunfire in a Haitian slum on Tuesday (July 11) amid signs of growing unrest in the impoverished nation.
    The violence broke out in the volatile neighbourhood of Cite Soleil.
    No one was killed in the violence, but at least one child was injured along with two adults. The injured were treated at a nearby hospital.
    It is not clear what started the violence, but residents said they had to take cover as the gangs and Brazilian troops traded fire early on Tuesday. Makeshift barricades and tires were set up on the street.
    Ernst St. Juste, a resident of Cite Soleil, said the Brazilian troops had fired on buildings in the neighbourhood:
    "As you can see, the Brazilian troops cracked this wall with heavy machine guns."
    Tiblan (one name only), a gang leader of Pele Simon, denied that the gangs had provoked the violence.
    "If they didn't shoot first there would never have been a shootout nor any problem in this neighbourhood. The Brazilian troops are the ones that caused all these things. We had to set up barricades to stop them from entering the street, that's why we call on the press to see what is going on, and it if wasn't for this barricades even the press will not be secured."
    Armed gunmen patrol the side streets of the slums at night carrying handguns, AK47 machine guns and M16s.
    About 20 people were killed last Friday in Haiti following a clash between rival gangs fighting a turf war.
    Cite Soleil, the vast seaside slum on the northern edge of the capital, was the scene of routine gunfights between gangs and foreign troops last year, but has been relatively peaceful since before Haiti's February presidential election. However, a clash in June between U.N. troops and gangs left three people dead.
    The peacekeepers, now numbering about 8,700 soldiers and police, were sent to Haiti after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted.
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