14480: (Chamberlain) Haitian authorities seek to arrest activist (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Deibert

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Authorities issued an arrest
warrant for a former Haitian army colonel who has helped lead a wave of
anti-government protests, a judicial source said on Wednesday.
     The warrant issued on Tuesday against Himmler Rebu, a former colonel
in the Haitian army disbanded by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1994,
charges that Rebu injured government supporters during clashes between
Aristide supporters and opponents on Friday, said the source, who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
     The violence in Port-au-Prince began when a group chanting
pro-Aristide slogans began pelting an anti-government march Rebu was
leading with rocks and bottles. It spiraled into a chaotic afternoon that
saw Haitian police firing automatic weapons into the air and along the
ground.
     More than a dozen bleeding and battered demonstrators and
counter-demonstrators staggered into a hospital.
     Rebu has denied the charges.
     "I was always with the police during this demonstration," he said on
Wednesday. "The government is trying to neutralize me. I call on the
opposition to react strongly against these maneuvers."
     Haiti has been rocked by increasingly violent demonstrations over the
last two months as opposition parties, students and other groups have
called on Aristide to resign.
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest serving his second term as
president of the poor Caribbean country, has been locked in a political
dispute over the results of May 2000 parliamentary elections, which
opposition parties allege were calculated to favor Aristide's Lavalas
Family party.
    Also on Wednesday, men who said they represented groups of demobilized
soldiers visited radio stations around the capital to read a statement in
support of Rebu.
     "We warn the Aristide government not to arrest Himmler Rebu because he
is a citizen and has the right to participate in the political process,"
one said.
     The men declined to give their names, citing security concerns.
     Several high-profile arrest warrants against Aristide supporters,
including one against Rene Civil, a leader of Friday's pro-Aristide
faction, have yet to be executed though the subjects operate with relative
ease and in public view in the capital.
     Rebu has been one of the driving forces in the latest round of
anti-government protests, which began with a march in the northern city of
Cap Haitien on Nov. 17 that drew 10,000 people.