PRESS RELEASE
NYPM 016-05
16 APRIL 2005

SUSPECT IN SHOOTING DEATH OF FILIPINO SOLDIER IN AMONG 10 KILLED IN CLASH WITH POLICE, PEACEKEEPERS

PORT-AU-PRINCE—A member of a violent Haitian street gang said to be the one who fired the shot that killed a Filipino peacekeeper here on Thursday was among the 10 gang members killed in a gun battle with police and United Nations peacekeepers on Friday, 15 March, the head of the Philippine military contingent here said.

Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, Philippine contingent commander, informed Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr., Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, that one of the fatalities in the latest gun battle in Cite Soleil was believed to be the gunman who fatally shot Army Staff Sgt. Antonio Batomalaque in the same area on Thursday, 14 March.

The Filipino sergeant was killed when an undetermined number of gang members attacked UN peacekeepers and engineers setting up a checkpoint in the notorious seaside slum area, just a day after a Security Council mission arrived in Haiti to assess the local situation.

Colonel Lucero told Ambassador Baja the unidentified gang member was shot dead by Jordanian troops during the hour-long firefight that also involved elements of the Haitian National Police and peacekeepers from Peru.

Colonel Lucero was informed about the death of the gang member by the headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) a few hours after the gun battle—believed to be the longest and fiercest police and UN peacekeepers have ever been involved in since the international community intervened in Haiti last year.

Reports said two Haitian police officers and 20 gang members were also wounded in the firefight that was triggered by a joint MINUSTAH-police operation aimed at restoring order in Cite Soleil and also at finding gang leader Dread Wilmer. Reports also said that a hail of gunfire met peacekeepers as they entered the sprawling slum area with a population of about 350,000.

The clash took place a day before the Security Council mission, which Ambassador Baja was participating in was to end its three-day visit to the country.

It was not immediately clear how the slain gang member was identified as the one who shot and killed Sergeant Batomalaque as the details on Thursday's incident have still not been made available to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Information made available to the Philippine Mission by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations reveal that Sergeant Batomalaque was killed while taking part in security operations and not in a civic action project as earlier reported.

It was learned that at the time of the incident, Sergeant Batomalaque, a 22-year Army veteran, was serving as close-in escort for the MINUSTAH deputy chief for operations who was then inspecting security barricades being set up by Chilean, Ecuadoran and Uruguayan peacekeepers and engineers in Cite Soleil.

The Philippine Mission was informed that the peacekeepers were reported to have been able to return fire but it was not clear whether the Filipino was killed in the initial burst of gunfire or in the exchange that followed.