UN Haiti peacekeeper chief believed dead in quake

The Tunisian head of UN peacekeepers in Haiti and all those around him are believed dead after their headquarters collapsed in the quake.

PARIS, January 13, 2010 (AFP) - The Tunisian head of UN peacekeepers in Haiti and "all those around him" are believed dead after their headquarters collapsed in the huge earthquake there, France's foreign minister said Wednesday.

"The building of the UN peace mission... collapsed and it would appear that all those who were in the building, including my friend Hedi Annabi... and that all those who were with him and around him are dead," Bernard Kouchner told RTL radio.

Kouchner also confirmed earlier that Haiti's President Rene Preval had survived the quake and had phoned the French ambassador in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Brazil said four of its members of the UN force were killed and that five Brazilians were wounded and an undetermined number missing in the aftermath of Tuesday's 7.0 quake.

A Filipino diplomat told a television station in his home country that rescuers had retrieved several bodies as well as injured survivors from the rubble of the UN headquarters.

Bodies littered the streets of Port-au-Prince after the earthquake that may have killed thousands in shantytowns, luxury hotels and even the presidential palace.

Annabi is the head of the 9,000-strong force United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Brazil is the biggest contributor to the mission with 1,200 personnel.