Haitians shot dead in clashes with UN

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Two Haitian protesters have been killed after attacking United Nations peacekeepers on suspicions that Nepalese soldiers in their ranks introduced the cholera epidemic that has swept the country and killed up to 1000 people.

Crowds in two northern towns hurled rocks, set up burning barricades and blocked roads to protest against foreign forces and the government's response to the crisis.

The violence rattled Haitian authorities and the UN in the run-up to presidential and legislative elections on November 28.

Cap-Haitien, the country's second city, was cut off from the rest of Haiti after a day of rioting. Clashes in the town of Hinche injured seven Nepalese peacekeepers. The body of a 20-year-old man was found in front of the UN mission in Quartier-Morin, on the outskirts of Cap-Haitien.

''At first [the peacekeepers] fired to disperse the crowds,'' a local official, Bimps Noel, said. ''Later, I had the impression they fired on a man.''

The young man was shot in the back, the official said, noting that the UN tanks were hit only by stones.

''A demonstrator … fired at a soldier, and the soldier returned fire in legitimate self-defence,'' a UN spokesman said. ''The soldier was not injured.''

Another young Haitian was killed by gunfire on a street in Cap-Haitien amid the clashes, a police source said.

UN officials have admitted there are problems with sanitation at the Artibonite valley base used by Nepalese soldiers but denied its soldiers brought the disease, which is spread by contaminated faeces.

The World Health Organisation said finding the source was not the first priority. No official investigation into the epidemic's origin has been begun, despite appeals from Haitian leaders and foreign epidemiologists.

''In Haiti most people believe it came from the Nepalese and that the UN will do its best to hide it,'' said Prospery Raymond, country director of Christian Aid. ''If it is confirmed to be from them this will be damaging for the UN and their peacekeeping all over the world.''

Less than a month after Haiti's first cholera outbreak in half a century, the confirmed number of fatalities stood at 917 and was rising by more than 50 a day. There have been almost 15,000 infections.

Most deaths have been in central and northern Haiti, with the disease not yet widespread in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which was badly damaged in an earthquake in January that killed 250,000 people and left a million homeless.

With no previous knowledge of cholera many Haitians are unsure how to avoid contagion.

Donors credit the UN peacekeeping force with keeping Haiti relatively stable in recent years despite food price riots, hurricanes and the earthquake.

But many Haitians have denounced the blue helmet-wearing soldiers as an expensive and useless occupation force.

Haitians are also critical of their government for letting the disease spread from the Artibonite valley to the cities where millions live in slums, rubble and tents.

''Now it's here and they're wringing their hands,'' said Alfred Roberts, a father of two in Port-au-Prince. ''Not good enough.''

The outbreak raised doubts whether the elections, already troubled by logistical and political problems,will go ahead.

Guardian News & Media

Agence France-Presse