UN peacekeeper killed in Haitian slum Updated: 2005-12-26 09:30
A United Nations peacekeeper in Haiti was shot to death while on patrol in a
slum that has seen almost daily violence since the ouster of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a U.N. military spokesman said Sunday.
The Jordanian soldier was on patrol in Cite Soleil when he was shot in the
head and killed on Saturday, according to Lt. Col. Fernando da Cunha Mattos,
U.N. military spokesman.
U.N. authorities declined to release further details, including the soldier's
name, which was being withheld pending notification of his family.
Cite Soleil, where gunbattles between peacekeepers and gangs take place
almost daily, remains the most insecure place in Haiti ahead of national
elections scheduled for Jan. 8. Observers fear the gangs could disrupt the
elections.
Haitian police do not enter the slum, which a battalion of 1,500 Jordanian
peacekeepers in armored vehicles has pledged to reclaim from the gangs.
Some 7,600 U.N. peacekeepers arrived in Haiti in June 2004 to stabilize the
country after Aristide's Feb. 29, 2004, ouster.
Seven peacekeepers have died in action since June 2004, according to the
U.N.
|