13984: (Chamberlain) Journalists forced to flee (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

(Reporters Without Borders, 5 Dec 02)


Seven journalists take refuge in Port-au-Prince


Esdras Mondélus (head of Radio Etincelle), Henry Fleurimond (Radio
Kiskeya), Renais Noël Jeune, Jean Niton Guérino and Gédéon Présandieu (all
reporters with Radio Etincelle), as well as René Josué (Signal FM) and
Jean-Robert François (Radio Métropole) took refuge in Port-au-Prince on 30
November.

The seven had been hiding in Gonaives since 21 November, first at the
bishop's house, which they were forced to leave on 28 November by Church
officials who feared it would be attacked.  The next day, the hotel they
had moved to was fired at by members of the Cannibal Army, an armed group
close to the country's ruling Fanmi Lavalas party.  The journalists then
fled to the northern city of Cap Haitien and the next day flew to
Port-au-Prince with the help of the Haitian Journalists' Association (AJH).

They had been threatened by the leader of the Cannibal Army, Amiot Métayer,
for their reporting of demonstrations calling for the resignation of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  Métayer was prosecuted for physically
attacking opposition supporters in December last year.  He escaped from
prison in August this year and the government says it has not rearrested
him so as to avoid a bloodbath.  The National Coalition for Haitian Rights
(NCHR) said on 29 November that the Cannibal Army was terrorising Gonaives,
that the police had virtually disappeared and that two other journalists
there, Frantz Renel Lebrun (Radio Ibo) and Eric Julien (Caraïbes FM), were
forced to go into hiding.

"The government is using armed bands to persecute journalists," Mondélus
told the Associated Press (AP), and the groups in Gonaives were
coordinating with those in Port-au-Prince and got their orders from
Aristide.  He told Reporters Without Borders that after he and his
colleagues had left the town, it no longer had any credible media, since
apart from Radio Etincelle, the other stations broadcast just music, while
Radio Indépendante, a pro-Fanmi Lavalas station, had suspended its news
programmes.

AP reported that the Cap Haitien station Radio Maxima suspended its news
programmes on 1 December after its journalists had received threats from
Aristide supporters during a pro-government demonstration.  The AJH said 64
journalists had been threatened so far this year, 62 of them by the
government and two by the opposition.