18340: Esser: Haitian government warns of coup (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

BBC News
Haitian government warns of coup
Published: 2004/02/09 10:55:44 GMT


The prime minister of Haiti has accused the civil opposition of
trying to mount a coup as unrest continues to spread.

Yvon Neptune said the opposition should play a role in stopping the
violence and help the country to hold elections.

An opposition spokesman denied backing the unrest and called for
foreign intervention to avert civil war.

Trouble was reported in the port of St Marc, where rebels torched a
police station and crowds have been looting food and goods.

Television pictures showed looters - said to number hundreds -
escaping with electrical items and sacks of flour.

Opposition spokesman Andy Apaid told the BBC that President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide must stand down and he said the international
community's help was needed to "make sure the message gets through".

But, he added, the opposition did not support the violence sweeping
through Haiti.

Civilians flee

Further north, police have withdrawn from the rebel-held city of Gonaives.

Most of the city's 20,000 inhabitants are also believed to have fled.

Police had been trying to regain control of Gonaives since rebels -
who describe themselves as the Gonaives Resistance Front - seized
control of it on Friday.

At least nine people are reported to have been killed in clashes in the city.

Communication lines are down but television pictures show corpses
lying in the roads, with armed men roaming the streets.

The World Food Programme, which has its main food aid distribution
point in Gonaives, has warned that the escalating violence is
disrupting its efforts to combat malnutrition in Haiti.

A WFP spokesman, Alejandro Chicheri, told the BBC that more than
500,000 Haitians were facing serious food shortages.

Opposition fears

Opposition groups are calling for the president's resignation, saying
he stole the 2000 election which returned him to power.

They also accuse him of corruption and human rights violations.

The mainstream opposition is trying to present itself as a viable
alternative to Mr Aristide and does not back the uprising in Gonaives.

The BBC's Nick Caistor says they are concerned that groups such as
those which took over Gonaives are little more than armed gangs
without any defined political beliefs.

Prime Minister Neptune accused the rebels of trying to overthrow the
government.

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

President Aristide has offered to hold parliamentary elections but
insists he will serve out his second term in office, which ends in
2006.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/3470911.stm