Unreported World

A shocking report from Haiti, where the Unreported World team is given exclusive access to accompany UN troops, who face a daily battle to take back control of Cite Soleil (Sun City) from the armed gangs that have turned the country's capital into one of the most unstable places on Earth.

The UN stabilisation mission was drafted in to restore security after President Aristide was violently forced out of office in 2004. But the violent battle they face and the danger to civilians is apparent as soon as they arrive in Cite Soleil to be confronted by a gun battle between UN troops and gang members. The importance of the anti-gang operation is brought home by one resident, Rosemary, who tells the team that she's been raped by the gangs. Her husband, son and daughter have all been shot and killed amid gang warfare and her family home has also been destroyed.

Civilians are also being killed in the deadly crossfire. Another resident, Dario, tells Jordan that just four days previously, his nine year old son had been shot dead. Now he has to walk his seven year old daughter Selena to school every day. But even at school she's not safe. The previous week, the gangs used a building right next door to the school to ambush the UN troops in a gun battle.

Jordan and Barnwell join a group of heavily armed UN troops on a night-time mission to try to retake an area of the slum. The soldiers are expecting heavy fire from the gangs. They've fortified their armoured personnel vehicles with sandbags to try and deflect bullets, but they still face a nervous night as they inch through the alleyways of the slum.

Nervous local residents tell the team that they're worried that the presence of the UN at such close quarters would ratchet up the violence there even further. Their fears seem justified; Jordan is told that there have been casualties during another night-time operation and rushes to the scene to find the horribly mutilated bodies of two little girls aged four and six inside a shack. Their father, Mercius, claims that UN soldiers, firing from armoured vehicles nearby, killed them.

In response, the UN says that gang members are unscrupulous in using women and children as human shields, directly and purposely drawing fire onto them. But it's impossible to tell what really happened that night. It's a no-go area for police, there's no rule of law and nobody to investigate the killings. As the news spreads, the team join a crowd peacefully demonstrating against the killings. But suddenly there's chaos as UN troops fire tear gas and plastic bullets into the crowd, one of which hits Barnwell.

After spending time with the UN, the team decide to speak to gang leaders to get their side of the story. After several days of negotiation they are given permission to enter the Bellacu area, run by a gang lord called Amaral, who's had pits dug in the road to stop UN vehicles entering his turf. He tells Unreported World that he helps the local community and that the UN is making accusations against him because of his power. Only God has the right to judge him, he says.

On the team's last day in Haiti, the UN launches its biggest operation yet - against another gang leader, Evens. Jordan and Barnwell ride with the troops during a twelve-hour gun battle before the UN captures Evens' base. But just as the Unreported Team arrive at the base, there's an eruption of automatic gunfire and they're caught in an ambush and another vicious gun battle. Back at their base following the battle, UN commanders ponder a mixed result, while the local people look ahead to another night of terror.

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