Haiti Presidential Adviser Shot and Killed

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - The owner of a pro-government radio station who acts as a special adviser to President Rene Preval was shot and killed on his way to work early on Monday, Radio Metropole reported. Jean Leopold Dominique, director and owner of Radio Haiti Inter, was fired on as he arrived at work on Delmas Street, one of the main thoroughfares in the capital of Port-au-Prince. 

Dominique, a longtime political activist, was taken to a hospital where he died shortly after the shooting, Radio Metropole said.The motive for the shooting was unknown. The attack comes amid rising tensions  and almost daily street demonstrations protesting the Preval government's failure to hold elections. Preval has ruled by decree since January 1999, when he dissolved parliament to end an 18-month political stalemate and installed a new prime minister and cabinet. Haiti has not held legislative elections since a 1997 ballot was annulled because of widespread fraud. Previously, Haiti suffered under decades of dictatorship and foreign intervention.