Haitian police shot and killed a rebel leader who helped oust former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year, a UN official said.

Remissainthe Ravix was one of four main architects of a bloody three-week revolt that forced Aristide to flee the country in early 2004.

He was wanted by the police, who suspected him in several attacks on police stations.

Former soldier and rebel leader Remissainthe Ravix. (AP file photo)

Ravix was killed during a shootout Saturday in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, said UN spokesman Dan Moskaluk.

Early Saturday, UN and Haitian police were looking for suspects in an earlier shooting of a UN employee when they got into a gunfight with about 10 armed men, Moskaluk said.

Ravix, a former sergeant, and other ex-soldiers had been clashing with police and UN peacekeepers over the re-establishment of Haiti's army, which was disbanded in 1994.

The former soldiers refuse to lay down their weapons and control a number of towns.

Moskaluk said Ravix's death would help restore stability in the country, which is also plagued by violent street gangs.

However, he also predicted that the rest of Ravix's group might seek retaliation.

Battles between ex-soldiers, gangsters, police and peacekeepers have killed more than 400 people in the last seven months.

The United Nations, which has about 7,400 peacekeepers in the country, hopes to restore calm before elections in October and November.