13812: Chamberlain: More anti-government protests hit Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters
clashed with a street gang loyal to Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide on Tuesday, wounding three people as violence escalated in the
troubled Caribbean nation, private Radio Metropole reported.
     The shooting erupted in the central port city of Gonaives, where the
Cannibal Army, led by Aristide supporter Amiot Metayer, was blamed for
wounding five people during protests on Monday, Metropole reported.
     Another large anti-government demonstration was held in the
southwestern city of Petit Goave, where a demonstrator was shot and
marchers stormed a government building, seized firearms and paraded through
the city's streets, demanding the president step down, residents said.
     Demonstrations have rocked Haiti in the last two weeks as students
protest what they say is government interference in the school system and
opposition groups call for the ouster of Aristide, the former Roman
Catholic priest now in his second term as president.
     On Monday, the Organization of American States, which is trying to
broker a political accord in Haiti, issued a statement hailing small steps
toward a truce but criticizing Aristide's government for its reaction to
the demonstrations.
     Since he began his second term in February 2001, Aristide has been
locked in a dispute with the opposition coalition Democratic Convergence
over contested May 2000 legislative elections. The deadlock has stalled
over $500 million in desperately needed aid to Haiti's 8 million people.
     Already the poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has seen its
currency lose 40 percent of its value and its inflation is up 16 percent in
the last year. The economy has contributed to discontent with Aristide,
leading to the spate of protests.
     In its statement, the OAS applauded progress in organizing an
electoral council, a requirement for new elections to be held to resolve
the disputed May 2000 vote.
     But the Western Hemisphere's top diplomatic body criticized the
government for its handling of the fugitive Metayer, who has roamed
Gonaives freely since a jailbreak in August, and for failing to control
protests, particularly Friday's pro-government tire-burning demonstrations
in the capital.
     "The authorities appeared to make no effort to keep roads open or to
detain those committing illegal acts," it said.
     The government, in turn, criticized Haiti's largest private sector
association, which on Sunday said people acting under the protection of
Haiti's high authorities had set up a "climate of terror" in the country.
     "The private sector is trying to provoke us and push us to the road of
foreign intervention," Prime Minister Yvon Neptune said in a press
conference carried on local radio on Monday. "The situation is very
delicate and we fear civil war."
     U.S. troops invaded Haiti in 1994 to oust a military dictatorship
which had overthrown Aristide in a coup.
     On Monday, the National Association of Haitian Media said it was
"highly worried by direct threats" to journalists in Gonaives and the
northern city of Cap Haitien, where an anti-government rally drew over
10,000 people on Nov. 17.