13859: Chamberlain: Aristide vows to stay in office despite protests (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide on Thursday ruled out resigning in the face of widespread protests
and called for new elections as the best way to resolve the country's
political crisis.
     "I will not leave office, coup d'etat is not a solution to Haiti's
problems," Aristide told reporters in his first comments on the protests
that began 11 days ago.
     "Haiti is a democracy and the people have a right to express their
opinion ... The best resolution to this crisis is to form an electoral
council and hold new elections," Aristide said.
     Such a council would oversee new legislative elections, possibly early
next year, in a bid to resolve an impasse sparked by contested elections
two years ago.
     Opposition groups, saying a climate of security does not exist for new
elections, have refused to name a representative to an electoral council.
     Opposition and student groups protesting at a deteriorating economy
and what they charge is Aristide's increasingly authoritarian rule staged
major rallies on Thursday.
     In the central city of Las Cahobas, a government supporter was shot
and killed in a clash between protesters and groups loyal to Aristide,
private Radio Metropole reported.
     In the northern city of Gonaives, thousands of protesters marched past
barricades of burning tires and cars, residents said, before being set upon
by rock-throwing and whip-wielding members of the "Cannibal Army" street
gang, resulting in numerous injuries.
     The gang is led by Amiot Metayer, a fugitive and Aristide supporter
who staged a spectacular jailbreak in the city in August, and has since
been linked by local residents to dozens of shootings in the area.
     The rally marked the anniversary of the shooting of three
schoolchildren by the Haitian army during the dictatorship of the Duvalier
family in 1985.
     Two riot police were also shot and wounded Thursday in the Gonaives
slum of Desachos, local media said.
     Hundreds of students marched in the southern city of Jacmel, demanding
Aristide's ouster and the reinstatement of three local teachers allegedly
fired for participating in an anti-government march, residents said.
     At least 30 people have been wounded by gunfire since the new round of
demonstrations began November 17.
     A former Roman Catholic priest,  Aristide rallied Haiti's poor masses
to overthrow a 30-year dictatorship in the mid-1980s and was first elected
president in 1990.
     He was overthrown in a military coup seven months later but restored
to power by American troops in 1994.