18341: Esser: Haitian government accuses opposition of coup plot (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com


Agence France Presse
Haitian government accuses opposition of coup plot
Sun Feb 8, 7:01 PM ET


PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune accused
opposition groups of trying to mount a coup to overthrow the
government as police gave up an attempt to reclaim control of the
coastal city of Gonaives.


Violence was reported in several cities throughout the country, which
has been troubled by shootings and anti-government protests.

"This violence is connected to a coup attempt," Neptune said in a
television interview.

"If the opposition wants to participate in the construction of a
law-abiding state, it should play a role in stopping the violence,"
Neptune said.

He called on the opposition to participate in helping the country
hold elections.

"It's only through elections that the crisis can be resolved," he continued.

Parliamentary elections failed last year when no electoral body was
set up to oversee the polls, leaving the nation without a functioning
legislature.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide now rules by decree, although he has
promised elections within six months. The opposition dismissed his
proposal as inadequate.

Neptune asked Haitians to report attacks on police to allow
authorities to restore peace in the impoverished nation.

Police left Gonaives on Sunday after failing to reclaim control,
which it lost on Thursday to the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance
Front (RARF).

Police stations were burned down in several cities by anti-government
groups asking for Aristide's resignation.

Barricades were set ablaze in several cities, including the capital
Port-au-Prince, by pro-Aristide groups.

Aristide, a former Catholic priest, was elected in 2000 in elections
observers deemed flawed. He has insisted that he will hold office
until his term ends in 2006.

In a press release, police said they made a "strategic withdrawal"
from Gonaives, one day after trying to rip control from RARF, which
claims control of the country's fourth-largest with 200,000 people.

The rebels destroyed bridges and dug trenches to stop police from
returning to the city, according to radio stations.

Television images showed corpses lying in the city's roads while men
armed with guns, improvised maces and machettes stood on cars and
roamed the streets.

More than 60 people have died in Gonaives since September and more
than 100 have been injured.

Witnesses and radio stations said three to seven policemen were
killed Saturday in an attempt to reclaim the city.

Winter Etienne, a rebel leader, said 14 officers were killed, a
figure that could not be independently confirmed.

The rebel group's attack on a police station on Thursday claimed 11
lives and injured 20 people.

Media reports said burning barricades had been erected in Cap Haitien
and that the police station in Grand-Goave, west of the capital, had
been burned down after an attack by opponents of Aristide.

Evans Paul, a leader of the political opposition, urged police not to
fight the population, who he said shared the rebels' desire to force
Aristide to step down.

On Saturday in Saint-Marc, located on the road between the capital
and Gonaives, witnesses said an opposition group called Ramicos took
over the police station and that prisoners from a nearby jail were
freed.