12647: Calm in Gonaives

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: John Longo <jtlongo@yahoo.com>


Haiti-violence
   Calm restored to Gonaives as Haiti's President Aristide urges talks

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 7 (AFP) - Calm was restored Wednesday to Gonaives,
about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the Haitian capital, after almost a
week
of violent anti-government protests by a group of armed men known as "the
cannibal army."
   Shops reopened and traffic got back to normal in the town that erupted
for
several days, culminating Friday with a raid on the local prison to free
Amiot
"Cubain" Metayer, who was jailed last July amid charges that he was
responsible for the murder of a bodyguard of a prominent local dissident.
   Aristide on Monday dispatched emissary Jose Ulysses to Gonaives to
negotiate a settlement with protest leaders, including Metayer's brother.
   When confronted with violence, Aristide "chose dialogue to avoid
bloodshed," a spokesman said here.
   Metayer, 38, a notorious criminal and gang leader, was seen as a staunch
supporter of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, accused Aristide of betraying
him to placate the opposition -- still entrenched in a bitter election
dispute
with Aristide over the controversial 2000 elections.
   As many as 159 inmates, among them former soldiers convicted for the 1994
massacre of local civilians, also escaped in the melee that left one dead.
   dl/jns/lg