Police Kill a Leader of Haitian Rebellion

Haitian police Saturday shot and killed a prominent rebel leader who helped force President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile last year, officials said.

Police killed Remissainthe Ravix in a shootout in an industrial area here in the capital, said U.N. civilian police spokesman Dan Moskaluk. The violence was the latest in a series of clashes that have pitted police and United Nations peacekeepers against ex-soldiers and street gangs.

Early Saturday, Haitian and U.N. police were searching for suspects in Friday’s shooting of a U.N. civilian employee, who was slightly injured, when they saw about 10 armed men fleeing an area in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Moskaluk said.

Police cornered the men and exchanged fire, killing Ravix, Moskaluk said, adding that it was unclear whether Ravix was armed. No other casualties were reported.

Ravix was one of four key leaders of the bloody three-week revolt that led to Aristide’s ouster on Feb. 29, 2004. The barrel-chested rebel, who often appeared before reporters in camouflage fatigues, was a sergeant in the Haitian army that Aristide disbanded in 1995.

Ravix’s death could stoke anger among former soldiers who refuse to lay down their weapons and still control several rural towns, U.N. officials said.

“We expect that there might be retaliation by the remainder of this group,” Moskaluk said.

After Aristide went into exile in Africa, Ravix and other ex-soldiers increasingly came into conflict with authorities and have been criticized by human rights groups for attacks on Aristide supporters.