13786: (Chamberlain) Haiti private sector decries 'climate of terror' (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Nov 24 (Reuters) - In another blow to embattled
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's largest private sector
association blamed "high authorities" on Sunday for allowing a "climate of
terror" to roil the poor nation.
     "In unison, we raise our voices in indignation," an association of 18
businesses and chambers of commerce from around the Caribbean country said
in a statement after a week of protests and shootings. "The private sector
cannot accept ... orchestrated criminal actions, planned and implemented
with the taxes of taxpayers and the equipment of the state."
     "People acting under the protection of high authorities ... have set
up a climate of terror," the statement said.
     The business leaders' message follows a week of large-scale protests
against Aristide's government and tire-burning counter-demonstrations by
armed supporters of the president that paralyzed the capital on Friday.
     The business group called for the arrests of some government
supporters suspected of leading disturbances, including Amiot Metayer, who
had briefly been at odds with Aristide over his imprisonment for
gang-related activity. Metayer, a fugitive who staged a spectacular
jailbreak in August, led a pro-government rally in the provincial city of
Gonaives on Friday.
     Friday's demonstrations blocked roads in the capital with flaming
barricades, and many businesses and schools were closed. Armed Aristide
supporters also fired into the air from the backs of pick-up trucks,
witnesses said.
     Residents in Port-au-Prince on  Sunday stocked up on foodstuffs and
supplies because of rumors an equally chaotic pro-government demonstration
was planned for Monday.
     Discontent with Aristide, who began a second term as president last
year but has been mired in a dispute over elections with the main political
opposition, has recently flared into a series of large demonstrations.
     Last week, thousands of high school students and their supporters
rallied in the provincial city of Petit Goave, southwest of the capital.
Displaying a bloody school uniform, they protested the shootings a day
earlier of seven high school students by police.
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, has been locked in a dispute
with the opposition Democratic Convergence coalition over the results of
contested May 2000 elections, which his opponents contend were biased in
his party's favor.
     The deadlock has stalled up to $500 million in international aid,
adding to the woes of the 8 million inhabitants of the poorest country in
the Americas.