HAVANA, Oct. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Continued violence in storm-hit Haiti has triggered difficulties for relief work amid calls for a dialogue to resolve the political crisis and the increase of UN peace-keeping soldier number, said reports from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince Thursday.

    People attacked relief workers by throwing stones in Gonaives, the country's third largest city and one of the hardest hit areas by Tropical Storm Jeanne, said David Snyder, spokesman for Catholic Relief Services.

    The workers were prepared to distribute food when being attacked, and one of them was wounded, he said.

    He also said some UN peace-keeping soldiers were there but theyfailed to control the situation.

    Jeanne killed at least 1,800 people in Haiti, mostly in Gonaives, and nearly 900 were missing. Three weeks after Jeanne's hit, food aid still failed to reach tens of thousands people who are too weak or old to crowd into the aid distribution center.

    Violence in the country's capital has killed at least 19 and also baffled shipments of relief materials to Gonaives.

    Some aid workers had been scared away by the violence, said Anne Poulsen, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program (WFP), noting 135 containers with 2,430 tons of food were stuck at the port of the country's capital.     

    UN TROOPS MAKE FIRST OFFENSIVE OPERATION IN PORT-AU-PRINCE

    Men in Bel Air, a slum attacked by UN troops and Haitian policemen a day ago, set tires and debris on fire, demanding the return of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

    Nearly 200 Brazilian troops, commanded by General Americo Salvador de Oliveira, 150 Haitian police agents and 30 members of the police units of the UN mission in Haiti early Wednesday made their first offensive operation in Bel Air in order to stop the wave of violence started a week ago.

    No casualties occurred in the raids and no weapons were seized,said Toussaint Kongo Koudou, a spokesman for the UN mission in Haiti. The raids were to put down a campaign by Aristide's supporters, local media reported.

    In an interview with the Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo, General Oliveira said the operation was unsuccessful, as the original aim of the action was to disarm the region.

    He also complained for the delayed arrival of the rest of the UN mission. Only 3,000 of the scheduled 6,500 troops and 460 of the planned 1,600 police agents have arrived in the Caribbean country.     

    OAS LEADER CALLS FOR DIALOGUE

    Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Miguel Angel Rodriguez Echeverria Thursday urged resolving the political crisis through dialogue.

    "In every case, peace was obtained through dialogue," he told apress conference before leaving Haiti where he paid a two-day visit.

    Rodriguez said he will ask the United Nations to increase the number of UN peace-keeping forces from the current 3,000 to the promised 8,000 as soon as possible.

    He said the OAS had donated 25,000 US dollars to the Haitian Red Cross, and the fund will be contributed to Gonaives' restriction.

    During his visit, he met with interim Haitian government officials and pro-Aristide leaders, urging a dialogue to resolve their conflict.

    Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with a population of 8 million, suffered a three-week civil tumult in February, in which about 300 were dead and Aristide was ousted.

    In May, floods caused by rainstorms killed more than 3,000 people along the border shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.Enditem