18282: (Chamberlain) Four dead in attack on Haitian police station (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Gunmen opposed to Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide attacked a police station in the northern
city of Gonaives on Thursday, sparking an exchange of gunfire with police
that killed four bystanders, local radio reported.
     The gunmen took over the police station for a short time and then set
it on fire, independent Radio Metropole said.
     Four bystanders died and several others were wounded as the gunmen
fired on Haitian National Police officers, who shot back. Police eventually
fled the station, the report said.
     Government officials had no immediate comment on the attack.
     The gunmen were believed to belong to the Cannibal Army, which had
supported Aristide but turned against him when its leader, Amiot Metayer,
was killed in September.
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest now serving his second term
as president of the impoverished Caribbean nation, has come under
increasing pressure to resign. Opposition groups accuse him of corruption
and human rights violations. Aristide has said he will serve out his term,
which ends in 2006.
     "We liberate Gonaives today from police and thugs supported by
Aristide," said Wynter Etienne, a spokesman for a group called Artibonite
Resistance Front, made up of former members of the Cannibal Army.
"President Aristide has to leave the country."