26 May - Haitian authorities took former prime minister Yvon Neptune before a judge yesterday to hear charges of orchestrating political killings, more than a month after he started a hunger strike to protest his nearly year-long incarceration without charge. Neptune went before a judge in a close-door session in the western town of St Marc. UN officials said Neptune had been taken to St Marc in a UN vehicle, but declined to comment on his health. Interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue has denied claims from family members and others that Neptune was nearing death, saying the former premier has been drinking water with sugar, salt and vitamins and was in stable condition. The judge was expected to read Neptune the charges and evaluate the evidence to determine how to proceed with the case. (AP)

20 May - The UN mission in Haiti needs another 750 troops and 275 police to try and ensure free and fair elections later this year, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Friday. While the peacekeeping mission has made progress in restoring order in recent months, there are not enough UN forces in the country to effectively respond to an unexpected surge in violence or civil disorder, Annan said in a report to the Security Council. The mission mandate should be extended for a full year, rather than the typical six months, to ensure adequate security is in place throughout the campaign, he added. The current mandate expires at the end of the month.

Annan called for an additional battalion of 750 peacekeeping troops, plus 50 staff officers, to act as a rapid-reaction force in case of possible crises, including gang violence in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, the country's most violent and impoverished slum. An additional 250 police plus 25 officers would help train Haitian police and help with crowd control and other possible disturbances in connection with the election campaign "and the aftermath of the elections," he said. The increases would bring the U.N. troop ceiling in Haiti to 7,500 from the current 6,700 and the police ceiling to 1,897 from 1,622, Annan said. (AP)

18 May - UN peacekeepers maintained alert as more than 5,000 supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched in Haiti's capital Wednesday to demand his return from exile. The peaceful three-hour march zigzagged through the capital, starting in two slums bordering Port-au-Prince, but never came close to the National Palace or any other important government buildings. Aristide speeches blared on loudspeakers, protesters carried Haitian flags plastered with stickers of the former priest and some held framed photographs of him in one of the largest demonstrations in recent months.

Without Aristide "we have no hope. There is nothing for us with this government. We can only look forward to death," said 37-year-old Printemps Belizaire, who is unemployed. (AP)

16 May - On May 16, several thousand Lavalas Family party supporters marched in Limbé to calls of "Down with the occupation, down with the February 29 kidnapping, long live the return of President Aristide." Demonstrators denounced repression in the town, where police shot to death a young man earlier this year in Limbé's Nan Fouwo district. But the demonstration ended without incident in St. Pierre Place. (Haïti Progrès)

16 May - Dominican authorities in recent days have deported more than 3,000 Haitians in one of the biggest such sweeps in decades, authorities said Monday. "There are thousands. More than 3,000," the top Dominican migration official in the northern part of the country, Juan Isidro Perez, told EFE as he directed the repatriation operations, which have been criticized by human rights organizations.

The massive repatriations come a week after a Dominican man was murdered in the northwestern town of Hatillo Palma, allegedly by Haitians, an incident that unleashed the rage of local Dominicans and obligated the Haitian residents to flee the town. On Thursday and Friday, three Haitians were riddled with bullets and killed in Santiago, in Esperanza municipality, the head of the Haitian Democratic Party, Alexander Justh, complained to EFE. The tension created by the deportations resulted in postponing the opening of the local market held each Monday by Dominicans and Haitians in the border town of Dajabon. In response to the repatriations, Haitian authorities on Monday closed the border at the bridge crossing the Masacre River, which divides the nations sharing the island of Hispaniola, thus halting the cross-border movement of area residents.

Virgilio Almanzar, the president of the National Human Rights Commission, told EFE that the Haitians being deported were also being subjected to "mistreatment and common plundering." In addition, he said that dozens of Dominicans had been transported to Haiti even though they had identity documents issued by their own country. The coordinator of the Jesuit Service for Refugees and Migrants (SJRM) in Dajabon, Regino Martinez, told EFE that the church in Ouanaminthe - a Haitian town located less than a kilometer (about half a mile) from the border - had been equipped to provide refuge to repatriated persons, but he added that it had already received the maximum number of people it could handle. He added that among the repatriated persons were children who had Dominican birth certificates. Dajabon Mayor Sonia Mateo said Monday that there was a clear willingness on the part of the Dominican government to control the presence of Haitians in the country and guarantee both security along the frontier and national sovereignty. (EFE)

12 May - The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has called for the immediate release of former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who has been imprisoned for the past ten months without being charged. Neptune has been on a hunger strike to protest his detention and is gravely ill. Neptune is accused of organising political killings during the rebellion that led to the ousting of then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004. The interim administration of Prime Minister Gérard Latortue has offered to temporarily remove 58-year-old Neptune for medical treatment, but he has refused demanding his unconditional release. CARICOM said it views Neptune’s incarceration as a glaring example of arbitrary detention on the basis of political affiliation. (CANA)

11 May - About 200 students marched in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to protest high gasoline and food prices and the interim government's failure to control mounting political and criminal violence. The students marched for about three hours, closely followed by United Nations troops in jeeps and Haitian police. They stopped in front of interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue's office, shouting at peacekeepers guarding the entrance. Protesters spat and pounded on a UN vehicle that tried to enter, yelling: "Down with the UN!" After students started shoving soldiers, Brazilian troops fired about a dozen shots into the air. The crowd dispersed, and no was injured.

Haitians have also been complaining about the rising costs of basics like rice, toothpaste and fuel. The interim government has blamed soaring world oil prices and has promised to address the problem. "We've been watching this government, and it's not doing anything," said Wisley Joseph, 25, a communications student. "So we are back on the streets."(AP)

9 May - Haiti's Supreme Court has overturned the convictions of 38 army and paramilitary leaders who were sentenced for their roles in a mass slaying a decade ago, human rights groups said Monday. The men were sentenced in 2000 in connection with a 1994 raid on the seaside shantytown of Raboteau in Gonaives. More than half were in exile and were tried in absentia. It was not clear how many were imprisoned.

The decision drew the ire of supporters of former President Jean-Bertand Aristide, who was ousted for the second time amid an armed rebellion in February last year. The Raboteau slayings were part of a series of attacks to erode support for Aristide. "This shows the current government is partisan, revengeful, hateful and not serious about justice," said Gérard Gilles, former senator in Aristide's Lavalas Party.

During the killings, witnesses said soldiers and thugs burst into dozens of homes, beating and arresting people. People who tried to flee were shot. It is not clear how many were killed, because soldiers prevented victims' families from retrieving bodies. Witnesses said at least 15 people killed but said other victims were washed out to sea. Brian Concannon, the US American lawyer who helped prepare the prosecution's case in the 2000 trial, criticised the ruling. "The Raboteau trial stood for the possibility of justice in Haiti ... It was praised as a landmark in the fight against impunity," he said. "The legal case for overturning the verdict was extremely weak." The decision likely opens the door for the release of Louis-Jodel Chamblain, one of Haiti's most feared criminals who has twice been convicted of murder, including in connection with the 1994 slayings. Chamblain helped lead the rebellion that knocked Aristide from power last year. Stanley Gaston, a lawyer for Chamblain, said he believed his client could be released within a week. (AP)

9 May - A Haitian official has called for international help and money to move thousands of people to safer homes before the looming hurricane season as weekend floods killed 11 in the capital. Interior Minister Georges Moise said a large number of people could die if not relocated from areas vulnerable to mudslides or flash floods. He did not specify how many people would need to be moved or how much such an operation would cost. "It is a very urgent matter, a disaster may occur any time. We need to move those people to another place," Moise told Reuters in an interview. "We want to act, but we don't have the financial means. We need the international community to help us," he said.

At least 11 people, including a pregnant woman and a 2-year-old girl, were killed early on Saturday when floods triggered by two hours of heavy rains covered their flimsy homes in the Coquillo Nazon district of Port-au-Prince. Officials at the civil protection office said the flooding was aggravated by the obstruction of drains by dirt and debris. The flood-struck neighborhood is below street level. "They are like living in a hole, so when it rains the water just fills the place and cover the houses," a civil protection investigator said. Moise said the interior ministry wanted to build shelters for potential flood victims. (Reuters)

8 May - Three hostages were freed and a dozen or so suspected kidnappers arrested yesterday during a police operation in the deprived areas of Port-au-Prince, the head of the Haitian police, Leon Charles, told AFP today. Amongst those who were freed is a Haitian woman, Martine Rymers, who is married to a Frenchman, he added. The hostages were kidnapped during the week by unknown people demanding ransoms. They were held in the very poor, densely-populated quarters of Port-au-Prince. Arms were seized during the operation, the police added.

During the last week, for the first time, two foreigners were targeted by kidnappers looking to obtain money. Recently, the number of kidnappings has increased. These foreigners, a Russian and an Indian, were released several days after being taken. On Friday, Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue announced that a decree had been issued making kidnapping a crime in Haiti, with a penalty of forced labour for life. To fight against this phenomenon, an anti-kidnapping unit was set up between the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah) and the Haitian police. (AFP)

5 May - A Russian and an Indian have been kidnapped in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, which has seen a surge of abductions for ransom in the past few months, UN officials said on Thursday. "The Russian is a UN contractor who works with a civil aviation company, but not a member of the UN peacekeeping mission," a spokesman for the UN mission in Haiti, Damian Onses-Cardona, told Reuters. He said the two were kidnapped during the weekend. Sources said the captors asked for US$200,000 in exchange for the Russian's release, but little was known about the Indian citizen. They are the first two known cases in which foreigners were targeted by kidnappers since kidnappings and criminal violence surged dramatically after a 19 February jailbreak during which nearly 500 prisoners escaped, including many dangerous criminals. Only a few dozen have surrendered or been recaptured by police. The kidnap victims are mostly business people and professionals. One political leader was held last week and was released after his entourage paid a ransom. (Reuters)

5 May - A top UN official in Haiti has denounced the detention of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune as illegal Wednesday, and the Organization of American States offered to help end what it called a standoff with serious moral implications. Thierry Fagart, chief of the United Nations human rights division in Haiti, cited both cases in delivering the UN's strongest criticism of the nation's human rights record since the ouster of President Aristide during a revolt in February 2004. Neptune and Privert both served under Aristide. "Since the beginning of the procedure until today, the fundamental rights, according to national and international standards, have not been respected in the case of Mr. Neptune and Privert," said Fagart, a French lawyer. (Reuters)

2 May - Haiti's jailed former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, 58, has refused a government offer to fly him to the neighbouring Dominican Republic for treatment, and told them he had to be cleared or would die, government officials said. Neptune has denied the accusations against him and accused Haiti's interim government of jailing him for political reasons. "Mr. Neptune said he would accept to be evacuated only if all the charges brought against him were lifted," Mike Joseph, a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, said in a statement late Sunday. "Such demands are absolutely unacceptable."

Doctors from the United Nations' peacekeeping contingent in Haiti said on Saturday that Neptune's vital functions were seriously threatened and he was near death. Interim President Boniface Alexandre's chief of staff, Michel Brunache, said the government had done all it could to help the former prime minister "but we cannot force Mr. Neptune to live if he does not want to," he told Reuters on Monday.

Neptune was arrested on June 27, 2004, and has been held at the Port-au-Prince national penitentiary without being formally charged by a judge. He is accused of masterminding what Aristide's opponents called a massacre on 11 February 2004, in La Syrie, a village near St. Marc 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince. A UN human rights envoy in Haiti, Louis Joinet, conducted an investigation in St. Marc last month and concluded that about 25 people - supporters and opponents of Aristide - were killed in clashes there in February 2004. Joinet characterised the deaths as the result of a "confrontation" and not a massacre. (Reuters)

APRIL
29 April - Dr Jean-Hénold Buteau, who was kidnapped on Thursday morning in Port-au-Prince, escaped from those holding him early on Friday morning. His captors had received a sum of money in response to their ransom demand but apparently refused to free Buteau because they wanted more. He had been badly beaten. (Kiskeya)