Haiti violence claims lives

2005-06-05 12:26

Port-au-Prince - At least two people, but possibly as many as 18, were killed during a police operation in the heavily armed Bel Air neighbourhood of the Haitian capital, UN sources and witnesses said.

Police refused to comment on the operation, which took place on Saturday, four days after unknown armed men attacked a market and a police station in Port-au-Prince, killing 10.

Haitian police reported to UN personnel that two supporters of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide were killed and 35 people were questioned during the police operation Saturday, according to Philippe Kleb, a staff member for the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

"We don't know any more," Kleb said.

But relatives of the victims told AFP that at least 18 people were shot dead in the operation.

A hospital source, however, said that only four bodies were brought to the main morgue at Port-au-Prince's state university on Saturday.

An AFP journalist saw some 10 houses burned and blood stains on the pavement in the Bel Air neighbourhood, home to some 300 000 residents, many of them heavily armed.

Witnesses said UN peacekeepers were present during the police operation but did not intervene.

Earlier in the week a Haitian official had vowed "concrete results" after unknown armed assailants attacked a market in Port-au-Prince, setting it ablaze, and a nearby police station.

At least 10 people were killed in the violence. Two were shot dead and several charred bodies were found in the ashes of the ruined market, police said.

The attack also wounded four police, one of them seriously, police spokesperson Gessie Coicou said.

The market sustained "millions of dollars in damage," Port-au-Prince Mayor Carline Simon said.

"Whole lives have been destroyed," he said.

The same day, May 31, the French honorary consul for the northern city of Cap-Haitien, Paul Henri Mourral, was shot dead as he drove near Port-au-Prince airport.

Michel Brunache, cabinet chief for President Boniface Alexandre, condemned the attacks and guaranteed "concrete results in the struggle against insecurity in the month of June." He also promised aid to the victims.

The market is close to the densely populated Cite Soleil shantytown, a stronghold of supporters of Jean Bertrand Aristide, who resigned as president and fled the country in February 2004.

Some pro-Aristide groups are calling for him to return for the upcoming presidential elections. But Aristide, who is living in exile in South Africa, said he would not seek a third term since the constitution prohibits it.

- AFP