Reply #36: Joy greets Preval victory in violent Haiti slum

[mom cat]

Joy greets Preval victory in violent Haiti slum
Thu Feb 16, 2006 4:54 PM ET
By Jim Loney
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers shed their combat helmets and a gang leader talked peace in a burst of revelry in Haiti's violent Cite Soleil slum following Rene Preval's victory in the presidential election.

With poor residents caught in the cross-fire, the sprawling seaside warren of flimsy shacks, open sewers and barefoot children has been the flash point for months with armed gangs loyal to Preval and deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on one side and Haitian police and U.N. troops on the other.

But on Thursday it was a scene of spontaneous celebration after election officials, pressured by foreign diplomats, settled the impoverished Caribbean nation's disputed February 7 vote and named Preval, a one-time Aristide ally and champion of the poor, the winner.

Jordanian U.N. troops, usually holed up in a sandbag-fortified headquarters or hidden away in menacing armored personnel-carriers on patrol in the streets, took off their helmets and let themselves be seen in what a commander said was a reaction to "conditions in the streets."

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-16T215423Z_01_N16305717_RTRUKOC_0_US-HAITI-ELECTION-SCENE.xml