a930: Haitian presidential press service warns of "destabilization movement" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Haitian presidential press service warns of
"destabilization movement"
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 25, 2002



Text of report by Haitian Metropole radio on 25
February

[Announcer] The presidential press service places the
violence in Cite Soleil within the framework of a
destabilization movement. This movement is apparently
orchestrated by Haitian citizens and foreigners to
provoke the intervention of foreign forces in the
country. The members of the presidential press service
are not able to reveal the identity of these sectors.
They note, however, that the Democratic Convergence is
not involved in this manoeuvre. They said that money
and weapons were distributed in poor neighbourhoods of
Port-au-Prince and certain provinces such as Gonaives,
to set in motion the destabilization movement.
According to Jacques Maurice, the people in charge of
public security are already working on the issue.
Maurice said the following:

[Maurice - recording, in Creole] The information we
have is that there is a particular sector that is
really against non-violence and dialogue and that
prefers confrontation. We do not want to reveal the
sector's identity yet, because the information that
the police have about the question is really clear.
There are people who are identified in the question.
It is a mixed sector, which has Haitians and
foreigners in it. The job of these people is to try to
see if they can create unrest and fights between
different neighbourhoods in the country despite the
peace process. For instance, the situation was calm in
Cite Soleil but suddenly [changed thought] we have
spoken about it, we have said it on other media. Since
the weekend, between Monday and Tuesday, they have
prepared to cause disturbances in those places. And
you see that they come under all forms of direct
attacks. They are trying to cause a provocation. What
we in the presidential press service require is that
the population, the Haitian National Police [PNH],
everybody, and even the opposition should not let
themselves be deceived. The important thing is that
the population should remain peaceful, especially the
people in Cite Soleil, Gonaives and Descahos, they
should be still because there is a provocation that
wants disturbances to take place in many places in the
country on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday [25-27
February] so that there can be a foreign intervention
in the country.

[Unidentified journalist] But Jacques Maurice, which
sector would actually be behind such a movement?

[Maurice] We cannot say that it is the opposition. No.
We must be clear on that. Honestly, we cannot say that
it is the opposition. As of now, we are confident that
the opposition will not support such a movement
because we know that these men are democrats. We
recognize that these men are fighting, they use the
weapon of dialectics and that they are ready to speak.
But I do not think that they are the kind of people
who are going to use weapons, M-50 and things like
that. We trust them, and we know that they will seek
the road of dialogue just as we are seeking the road
of dialogue. The only thing we would wish is that the
opposition, the Convergence would not let itself fall
into that net to support those people, and agree with
them even by its silence. We would like them to
condemn those kinds of acts, because sometimes that is
what those people are after, they want everybody to be
concerned. As I tell you, there is not anybody who is
not on the list of those people. Those people target
everybody. They want to create a chaotic situation.
[End of recording]

Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French
1145 gmt 25 Feb 02



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