18353: (Chamberlain) Haiti waits for government response to revolt (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Christie and Amy Bracken

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Haiti waited on Monday for the
government to respond to an armed rebellion and local radio reported that
fighting had broken out in one town between supporters and opponents of
embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     With rebels in control of Gonaives and Saint Marc north of
Port-au-Prince, and Grand Goave and other towns to the southwest, the
political opposition met to decide whether to align itself with the gunmen
who are presenting Aristide with his most dangerous challenge in months of
anti-government protests.
     Haitian radio said sporadic gunfights had broken out in Saint Marc,
the largest town on the road north from the capital to the country's
fourth-largest city, Gonaives, where police tried unsuccessfully on
Saturday to restore control after being driven out.
     It was not immediately possible to confirm the radio reports of street
battles between supporters of the president and anti-Aristide gangs. Gangs
chased police from Saint Marc on Saturday, erected a maze of barricades on
Sunday and looted the port.
     In pro-government enclaves in the dirt-poor provinces of the Caribbean
country of 8 million, some community leaders said they were "fortifying"
their towns against expected attacks from insurgents.
     "It's an open armed conflict now. It's not a joke," said Guy Delva,
secretary general of the Association of Haitian Journalists.
     Long-running political tensions in the poorest country in the Americas
boiled into crisis last week when an armed group, once tied to the
president, took over Gonaives, the city where Haiti declared independence
in 1804 after slaves defeated Napoleon's French army.
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest hailed a few years ago as a
champion of Haiti's fragile democracy, now faces accusations from opponents
of corruption and political thuggery.
     Dozens have died in recent months after anti-government demonstrations
were attacked by Aristide supporters.
     The government blames the opposition for the violence, and says it
represents a small mulatto elite opposed to rule by the black majority.
Aristide says he intends to serve out his second term to 2006.
     The Red Cross said seven people, including three police officers, died
in the takeover of Gonaives by armed members of a band formed from a once
pro-Aristide gang called the Cannibal Army. The rebels say another 14
police died in a failed counterattack on Saturday.
     A photographer working for Reuters counted six police corpses in the
streets, and locals said another six police were found on Sunday, dead in
the surrounding woods. They had apparently been stripped of their uniform
tops. Two civilians died in the takeover of Saint Marc, residents said.
     Haitian National Police Inspector General Michael Lucius said reports
of large police casualties were "pure lies," and insisted only one officer
had died in the failed assault on Gonaives. Another two died in unrelated
incidents around the city, he said.
     In the southern port city of Jacmel, where Haiti plans to hold its
main Carnival celebrations next weekend, former pro-government deputy and
now radio station owner Wilnet Content said people barricaded the streets
to prevent Aristide opponents from entering town.
     "They can do nothing in Jacmel," Content told Reuters by telephone.