18363: (Chamberlain) Haiti government faces armed 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) - Impoverished Haiti faced
chaos on Monday and local radio reported fresh fighting between armed
rebels and supporters of embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     With rebels in control of Gonaives and Saint Marc north of
Port-au-Prince, and Grand Goave and towns to the southwest, the political
opposition met to decide whether to align itself with gunmen who are
presenting Aristide with his most dangerous challenge in months of
anti-government protests.
     Haiti, where the army was disbanded after Aristide was restored to
power in 1994 by a U.S.-led invasion, has seen its police forces beaten
back in rebel-controlled areas. It was not clear exactly how many people
had died in the revolt so far.
     The United States, saying the violence "concerned us greatly," called
on all Haitians on Monday to respect the law. "The problems of Haiti will
not be solved by violence and retribution," State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said.
     Haitian radio said sporadic gunfights broke 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.
     It was not 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"
towns against expected attacks from insurgents and some opposition leaders
warned of anarchy.
     "It's an open armed conflict now. It's not a joke," Guy Delva,
secretary general of the Association of Haitian Journalists, said.
     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 once hailed 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.
     "They (the opposition) all have one rallying cry. They're tired of
Aristide," Leslie Maximilien, president of the opposition National Forum
for the Salvation of Haiti, said.
     "But if they win the day, then they will probably break up into small
pieces again and we'll be even worse off than we are now," said Maximilien,
a critic of Aristide's but also of the political opposition that has long
been calling for his head.
     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. 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 said only one officer died
in the failed assault on Gonaives. Another two died in unrelated incidents
around the city.
     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 Wilner Content said people barricaded the streets
to prevent Aristide opponents from entering town. "They can do nothing in
Jacmel," Content told Reuters by telephone.