16241: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Violence (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 31 (AP) -- In a fresh blow to President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government, the U.S. ambassador said Thursday
there is evidence Haitian government officials paid thugs to attack a
recent meeting of civic leaders. More than 40 were injured.
   Ambassador Brian Dean Curran said the findings of an investigation by
the embassy were sent to the U.S. State Department.
   "We've developed quite a dossier on what actually happened," Curran told
The Associated Press on Thursday.
   Hundreds of business, community and civic leaders were gathering for a
July 12 meeting to talk about restoring law and order in Haiti when about
50 Aristide partisans began hurling rocks.
   The injured included more than 30 of members of civic groups, six
Haitian journalists and three police officers.
   Observers from the Organization of American States, France, the Bahamas
and the United States were on hand for the meeting. Two OAS vehicles were
stoned, and at least two representatives sustained minor injuries.
   Johnny Occilius, a former municipal employee in Cite Soleil, calimed
that Mayor Fritz Pierre gave about $12,500 to two gang leaders to pay
followers to break up the meeting.
   Occilius, in an interview with the independent Radio Kiskeya on Tuesday,
said said police were ordered not to use tear gas.
   The governing party mayor, who could not be reached for comment
Thursday, has denied the allegations, saying Occilius was fired in November
for falsifying documents and that he made the claim to get a U.S. visa.
   Curran said Occilius has since fled Haiti for the United States. He said
that his story matches other reports.
   "We talked to a lot of people afterwards. We took it very seriously that
our diplomats were attacked," Curran said. "Occilius has pretty much the
same story." His allegations are "credible," he said.
   Occilius said the mayor received instructions from Jean Oriel, chief of
National Palace security.
   Earlier this year, the United States canceled Oriel's travel visa saying
he was suspected of drug dealing. Oriel denied the charges.
   Aristide spokesman Haendel Carre said Thursday that Occilius'
allegations would be answered with a legal response. "The affair is being
studied," he said.
   The opposition said the violence proved elections are impossible under
Aristide, whose term ends in 2006.
   In two resolutions last year, the OAS urged the government to create a
peaceful environment for legislative elections that Aristide has pledged
this year.
   The government and opposition have been locked in a dispute over new
balloting since flawed legislative elections in May 2000 that opposition
parties said were rigged.