Haitians Attack Peacekeepers

Protesters believe Nepalese soldiers started illness outbreak
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 16, 2010 1:20 AM CST
Haitians Attack Peacekeepers
A man suffering cholera symptoms is pushed in a wheelbarrow to St. Catherine hospital, run by Doctors Without Borders, in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.   (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Protesters who blame United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal for a deadly outbreak of cholera have attacked a base in northern Haiti. Shots were fired as protests spread through the city of Cap-Haitien and at least two people are believed to have been killed, AP reports. Six Nepalese peacekeepers were injured after being attacked by a stone-throwing mob. UN troops and Haitian police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.

Cholera was previously unknown in Haiti, and the epidemic has now killed roughly 1,000 people and spread to all ten provinces of the tiny nation. UN officials warn that the epidemic could infect up to 200,000 Haitians. Aid agencies are fighting to contain the disease in the capital, fearing it could sweep through camps housing over a million earthquake victims.
(More Haiti stories.)

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