18304: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Unrest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   GONAIVES, Feb 6 (AP) -- Thousands of protesters yelling "Aristide must
go!" vowed Friday to repel any attempt to retake control of Haiti's
fourth-largest city, a day after it was seized by armed militants in a
revolt against the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Hundreds of people looted a police station still smoldering from
Thursday's bloody assault, in which seven people were killed and 20
wounded. Some 200,000 people live in Gonaives and its suburbs.
   "The revolution has begun!" declared Dormessan Philippe, a 27-year-old
in the crowd milling outside the police station.
   The militants said they aim to seize other towns. The neighboring
Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with
Haiti, has ordered its military to tighten security along the border in
recent days.
   Discontent has grown among Haiti's 8 million people since Aristide's
party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors
froze millions of dollars in aid. At least 58 people have been killed since
mid-September in clashes between police, government opponents and Aristide
supporters.
   On Friday, thousands marched on the main highway leading to Gonaives,
chanting "Victory!" and "Aristide must go! Too much blood has flowed!" Some
rode in a looted police truck, flaunting stolen police uniforms and
weapons.
   The gunmen attacked symbols of Aristide's authority, burning the house
of Mayor Stephan Moise and a gas station and small inn that he owned.
Flames also gutted offices of the central government's representative.
   The dead included three police and four civilians, according to the
Haitian Red Cross. The four were militants killed in gunbattles with
police, Gonaives Resistance Front leader Wynter Etienne told Radio Vision
2000.
   Parts of a dismembered policeman killed during a five-hour battle with
gunmen remained in the jail adjoining the police station, which Etienne's
group set ablaze.
   One man's smoldering body lay in front of the gutted gas station.
Witnesses said he was shot and killed by police, then burned by residents
who said he was a police informer.
   Former soldiers of the disbanded army armed with heavy weapons patrolled
the streets in support of the uprising in Gonaives. Looters carried away
guns and helmets from the police station.
   At the jail, where the attackers freed more than 100 prisoners, the
sound of hammering rang out as looters dislodged metal gates and bars.
   Stores and schools remained shut and severed telephone lines were strewn
in streets covered with rubble.
   The government vowed to restore order in the city 70 miles northwest of
Port-au-Prince, the capital.
   Government spokesman Mario Dupuy said Thursday the attacks "are
terrorist acts undertaken by the armed wing of the opposition." He said
police "will have to take measures to re-establish order." But there were
no police in sight in the city Friday.
   The Gonaives Resistance Front once was allied with Aristide, and
residents accused the gang of terrorizing opponents of Haiti's leader. But
the gang turned against Aristide last year, accusing his government of
assassinating its leader, Amiot Metayer, to prevent him from releasing
damaging information about Aristide. The government denies involvement.
   Metayer's brother, Buteur, said Friday the fight would continue.
   "We're going to defend our victory. We're going to put up checkpoints at
the town's exit and entry points to prevent a police attack," he told The
Associated Press, a string of bullets hanging over his shoulder.
   In Port-au-Prince on Friday, one student was shot and wounded in the arm
by unidentified gunmen during an anti-government march, Radio Vision 2000
said. It said police fired tear gas to break up the protest.
   International donors are pressuring Aristide to hold new legislative
elections, saying the 2000 vote was unfair. Opposition leaders refuse to
participate unless Aristide resigns, which he refuses to do before his term
ends 2006.
   The violence has marred this year's celebrations marking Haiti's 200th
anniversary of independence from France, won in the world's only successful
slave revolt. Since then, freedom has proved elusive and Haitians have
suffered a string of dictators and more than 30 military coups.