Relatives wailed in grief over two people shot by American troops as anger grew over the US-led peacekeeping operation, with some Haitians demanding the US return ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Aristide, in exile in the Central African Republic since Feb. 29, was to fly to Jamaica today to be reunited with his daughters, who stayed in New York during the upheaval. He has claimed he was forced out by the US government.
A delegation of US and Jamaican officials -- including US Congresswoman Maxine Waters -- left Miami on Saturday night in a chartered jet to bring Aristide to Jamaica. The flight was expected to land in the Central African Republic yesterday afternoon. Aristide was scheduled to arrive in Jamaica this morning.
Haiti's new prime minister, Gerard Latortue, has warned that Aristide's return to the region would only increase tension in Haiti, and said he would not meet with the ousted leader.
US Ambassador to Haiti James Foley said on Saturday that "Jamaican authorities are certainly taking on a risk and a responsibility" by accepting Aristide.
Meanwhile, US Marines said the two men killed late Friday during a patrol were gunmen who had previously fired on the Marines, although their weapons were never recovered. Witnesses said the dead were bystanders.
"The Marines have very strict engagements of a target," Major Richard Crusan said. "Did they hit other people? I doubt it."
Relatives of 18-year-old Frantzy Louis wailed and hugged each other at his tin shack home in Belair. Looking at pictures of him, they said he wouldn't have been holding a gun.
"He was playing basketball when the Americans and the French began firing," said Louis' brother, 24-year-old Rudy. "He wasn't political. All he did was study and play basketball."
Residents identified the other victim as Dread Pasteur, 29, and said it was possible more than two people were killed in the gunbattle.
Several people were injured in Friday's gunbattle. One was Evans Dubuisson, 17, who said he was shot in the side after crossing the street to buy candles for his family.
Residents said it was the first time they had seen the US troops enter the gritty neighborhood, blocks away from the National Palace, at night. Since Aristide left the country, residents here haven't had electricity or water, and trash piles have reached heights of more than 3m.
Also Saturday, gunfire broke out in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil. Residents said the fight began when two gangs began arguing over a shipment of donated rice and flour. At least one man and two children were wounded, witnesses said.
The sprawling shantytown is a pro-Aristide stronghold where tensions persist between some of its several gangs. Crowds ran from the streets as the gunfire erupted, then emerged again as young men with pistols and rifles sped off in pickups to investigate. Police rarely venture into the slum, and some gang leaders say they are trying to keep the peace.
Initially the Marines and French peacekeepers were sent to secure key sites and provide security. Their mission has changed, however, and now they are working with Haitian police to disarm the general population. US troops have shot and killed at least six Haitians in the past week.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, arrived on Saturday to get a closer look at the operation.
He visited US troops at their barracks, shaking hands with Marines. But he did not talk with Haitian officials.
At a news conference, he said: "As far as Aristide's return to the region is concerned, if that increases the violence here, then that would be extremely unhelpful."
The violence is the biggest challenge facing Latortue, the new prime minister who was sworn in on Friday.
Aristide claims he is still the legitimate leader of Haiti, and that the US government forced him out. US officials say Aristide asked for help and that they saved his life by arranging his departure aboard a US-chartered aircraft during a bloody rebellion.
Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, the chairman of the Caribbean Community, invited Latortue to visit Jamaica this weekend for talks. But Robert Ulysse, an aid to Latortue, said the prime minister would stay in Haiti and focus on setting up his Cabinet.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS