Haitian rebel leader killed
2005-04-10 09:28
Port-Au-Prince - Haitian police shot and killed a prominent rebel leader in a gunbattle Saturday with several armed men, the latest in a series of clashes that have pitted police and UN peacekeepers against ex-soldiers and street gangs, a UN official said.
Police killed Remissainthe Ravix during a shootout in an industrial area of Port-au-Prince, said UN civilian police spokesperson Dan Moskaluk. He said he didn't know whether the former soldier was armed.
Ravix was one of four key leaders of the bloody three-week revolt that led up to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster on February 29 2004. The barrel-chested rebel, who often appeared before reporters wearing camouflage fatigues, was a sergeant in the Haitian army that Aristide disbanded in 1995.
The shooting broke out as Haitian and UN civilian police were searching for suspects in a shooting on Friday that left a UN civilian employee from India lightly injured, Moskaluk said.
The police saw about 10 armed men fleeing an area in the Delmas neighbourhood in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and chased the men into a nearby industrial area, cornering them inside a building, he said. Haitian police exchanged fire with the men, killing Ravix, Moskaluk said.
Police had been hunting for Ravix for weeks, accusing him of killing four policemen on February 6 and orchestrating attacks on police stations last year. He had proclaimed his innocence and gone into hiding.
Moskaluk called Ravix's death "the elimination of a threat" to UN troops and Haitian police, saying it would help restore stability to a country mired in violence since Aristide's ouster.
T-shirt soaked in blood
Ravix's death, however, could stoke anger among former soldiers who refuse to lay down their weapons and control several rural towns. UN troops will be wary of any revenge attacks, Moskaluk said.
"We expect that there might be retaliation by the remainder of this group," he said.
The 7 400-strong UN peacekeeping mission has increasingly confronted ex-soldiers and pro- and anti-Aristide street gangs amid concerns violence could threaten elections in October and November.
Ravix's death comes days before a UN Security Council visit to Haiti to assess conditions. More than 400 people have been killed since September in clashes often involving gangs, ex-soldiers, police and peacekeepers.
Journalists of The Associated Press were let into the morgue at Port-au-Prince's General Hospital, where Ravix's body was put on display, his arms flayed above his head and his white T-shirt soaked in blood that also covered his mouth. A crowd of onlookers stood outside.
After Aristide went into exile in South Africa, Ravix and other ex-soldiers came into increasing conflict with authorities and were criticised by human rights groups for attacks on Aristide supporters.
- AP