Pinoy peacekeepers in Haiti attacked, 1 hurt

Filipino peacekeepers in Haiti were attacked during a student protest in Port-Au-Prince on Saturday, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said Sunday. Elmer Cato, second secretary at the permanent mission of the Philippines to the United Nations, said a Filipino policeman who is part of the Philippine UN contingent to Haiti, was wounded in the head after being hit by a stone. "The Philippine mission is looking into the incident and has requested for additional information from the UN and the Philippine police contingent in Haiti," Cato said. About 155 Filipino soldiers and 45 police officers were assigned in Haiti. Cato said the mission will send a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila as soon as they get a full report of the incident from Haiti. The Philippines is the 26th largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. Close to 600 Filipino peacekeepers are scattered in Haiti, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Liberia, Sudan and East Timor. Reports said an estimated 200 militant youths staged a demonstration in the Haitian capital, demanding the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from their country. The UN maintains more than 7,000 peacekeepers in the Caribbean nation to restore calm after the ouster of president Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004. In April 2005, a Filipino peacekeeper was shot dead in Haiti during a clash between UN troops and local gangs. The clash occurred when the UN troops prepared to set up an observation post at the entrance of a slum area. Staff Sergeant Antonio Batomalaque of the Philippine Army was the third peacekeeper to be killed during the one-year-old UN mission in Haiti. -GMANews.TV