a654: BBC: We have just been informed that tyres are burning on Delmas 29, 30, 31 and 33 and the main road is barricaded. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Haiti: Highlights of Radio Metropole news 1145 gmt 4 Feb 02
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 6, 2002


2. We have just been informed that tyres are burning on Delmas 29, 30, 31
and 33 and the main road is barricaded. The reasons for this movement are
not yet known. (1 min)
3. The Democratic Convergence has sent a mission to Washington to discuss
with OAS officials the implementation of the 15 January resolution adopted
on Haiti. The mission is composed of Victor Benoit, Paul Denis and Jose
Nicolas. They are to meet [Assistant Secretary-General of the OAS] Luigi
Einaudi and members of the US Congress. According to the Convergence
administrative staff, this mission is an opportunity for the opposition to
make itself heard on the events of 17 December. The delegates will also
express the Convergence's points of view on future OAS missions to Haiti. (3
min)
4. Spain's ambassador to Haiti encourages the Haitian protagonists to
facilitate the resolution of the crisis in order to gain the disbursement of
international financing allocated to Haiti. Rafael Matos, who is
representing the current EU president [Spain] in Haiti, believes that
political will will be a deciding factor in the search for a solution to the
current crisis. The ambassador asks for the full support of the 15 EU
countries for the 15 January OAS resolution on Haiti. Matos said, "Everyone
should make an effort to establish a climate of trust for the resumption of
the negotiations." (2 min)
5. Nothing has been said yet about the designation of a new prime minister.
The contested Senate president said that the issue is not on the agenda yet.
Yvon Neptune explains that he has not received any pressure from President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to fill the position. Neptune said, //"All the
functions I have occupied within the Lavalas Family [FL] so far I never
asked to do them in the first place."// He went on to say, //"At this moment
I am president of the Senate and I am doing my best to do my job well. If,
later on, President Aristide or the FL should judge it necessary they can
make proposals. What I always say is that the president can make proposals
but I also have the right to tell the president that I do not think his
decision would be a good idea, or I could agree with him too."// (2 min)
7. The Haitian government spends between 6m dollars and 9m dollars a year to
assure the security of President Aristide and his family, according to an
article published by a US official in the Miami Herald. The newspaper notes
that these expenses are considerable for a poor country such as Haiti. The
presidential press service has criticized the Miami Herald report. (3 min)
8. Opposition leader Hubert de Ronceray considers the amount of money that
the president spends on his security to be scandalous. De Ronceray said that
this money is being spent at a time when the economic situation is very
difficult and poverty is striking at all levels of society. (2 min)
10. Two policemen were killed in the Jacquet area, Delmas 95, on Wednesday
30 January in circumstances that are not yet clear. Four people in the
neighbourhood were injured during the shootings. The incident was apparently
related to drug trafficking and kidnapping. A police investigation is under
way. (4 min)
11. Human rights organizations denounced the senators' decision not to lift
the parliamentary immunity of Senator Dany Toussaint, a suspect in the Jean
Dominique murder case. (3 min).
12. The US ambassador to Haiti has called on Haitians to use legal channels
to enter the United States. According to Brian Dean Curran, illegal migrants
do not have any chance to enter the United States. (2 min)
13. The bodies of 15 Haitian boat people who were drowned in the Bahamian
Sea were buried in the Bahamas over the weekend. The survivors were
repatriated to Haiti. (2 min)
18. Special Guest of the Day: Himler Rebu, former Lt-Col in the Haitian
Army, on the president of the republic's system of security. The fact that
the president had to hire a foreign firm to assure his security means that
he has no confidence in the national security system or the security system
of the National Palace, Rebu said. He added that this will create enemies
within the national security body. (14 min)
Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1145 gmt 4 Feb 02
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.