11Oct04

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2 soldiers in Haiti with U.N. are shot.

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Two U.N. peacekeepers were wounded in shootouts with supporters of Haiti's ousted president in the capital of Port-au-Prince and with storm survivors in flood-ravaged Gonaives, the first casualties of the 4-month-old U.N. mission, officials said Sunday.

Relief workers from Doctors of the World also came under attack in Gonaives, and the French group said it was evacuating its seven staff members until security improves.

An Argentine soldier outside a mass for flood victims of Tropical Storm Jeanne was shot in the arm Saturday night in Gonaives after protesters shouted at leaders of Haiti's U.S.-backed government, accusing them of not doing enough to help.

Earlier in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, gunfire erupted as about 150 Brazilian troops and 150 Haitian police rolled into the slum of Bel Air, where armed young men have barricaded themselves, demanding the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from exile in South Africa.

A Brazilian soldier was shot in the foot, the first casualty among the 3,000 peacekeepers, U.N. spokesman Toussaint Kongo-Doudou said.

The government has blamed Aristide supporters for continuing violence in Port-au-Prince. At least 26 people have been killed as Aristide supporters stepped up protests on Sept. 30, demanding his return and an end to "the invasion" -- referring to U.S. Marines who arrived as Aristide left and U.N. peacekeepers who took over in June.

In Gonaives on Saturday, civilians fired into the air and smashed rocks into a vehicle carrying four people from Doctors of the World, said Sophie Nasserre, the agency's coordinator.

"We can't continue to work like this when humanitarian workers who don't even have food are attacked like this," she said. "People are being too aggressive."

[Source: By Stevenson Jacobs, Associated Press, Gonaives, 11Oct04]

DDHH en Haiti

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