18362: Esser: Haiti News (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From. D. Esser torx@joimail.com


Haiti Support Network

Haiti News
Feb. 9th 2004

The following news briefs are culled from international news agency
wires, the Agence Haitienne de Presse (AHP), Radio Metropole, Haiti
Press Network (HPN), Haïti Progrès, AlterPresse, and other sources.

FEBRUARY

9 February - There is high tension in the coastal town of Saint-Marc
(96 kilometres from Port-au-Prince), abandoned by the police on
Saturday. Gunshots can be heard in many districts, while a police
helicopter hovers overhead. (HPN)

9 February - 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. 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. (Reuters)

9 February - Rebel forces in Gonaïves are preparing for new attempts
to re-take the town on the part of police forces. "We are willing to
fight and die if necessary," said Ralph D'Aout, a 32-year-old tailor
from the Raboteau slum in Gonaïves. "It's a battle that we're up
against, but it's one we will win." During the fighting, D'Aout
crouched, surrounded by other men equipped with two-way radios and
assault rifles. D'Aout was clearly in charge, as he called over armed
men and boys and whispered orders.

As his men exchanged fire with Aristide's police force, D'Aout told
The Miami Herald he was commanding Force 86, led by Jean Tatoune.
Tatoune was convicted of involvement in the 1994 slayings of Aristide
supporters in what became known as the Raboteau massacre and was one
of more than 150 inmates who escaped from the Gonaives prison in
2002. (Miami Herald)

9 February - Ex-army colonel, Himmler Rébu, has told the opposition
Radio Metropole that Aristide has no choice but to resign after
losing control of towns in different parts of the country. Rébu said
the police had received insufficient training to deal with the
situation they face in Gonaïves. He called on police officers to
defect rather than take actions to the detriment of the wider
population. (Metropole)

9 February - The prime minister of Haiti has accused the 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. France, the former colonial power, said it was very worried
about the developments and appealed to both sides to end the violence
immediately. "Our officials on the ground are working together with
the other diplomatic and consular missions that are present," French
Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said.

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. (BBC)

8 February - In the vicinity of Grand-Goâve (40 kms south of the
capital) armed men from the opposition abducted a reporter from
Télévision Nationale d'Haïti (TNH, National Television of Haiti) and
a journalist from the privately owned television station, Telémax.
The reporters were identified as Marie Andre Métellus and Frantz
Moise. The two journalists were returning from the city of Les Cayes
where they had covered a pro-government demonstration on Saturday
commemorating the third anniversary of the inauguration of President
Aristide's second term in office. The vehicle in which the crews from
the two television stations were travelling was attacked by
supporters of the opposition. According to initial witnesses, the
attack was carried out by former members of the military who are
working with the opposition political coalition. Other journalists
who were also aboard the vehicle were able to flee. (AHP)

8 February - In Port-au-Prince in the early morning, Aristide
supporters erected burning tyre roadblocks in Canapé Vert and
Carrefour, and opposition leaders called off a planned demonstration
because of the deteriorating situation. In Grand-Goâve, police
abandoned the police station which was then set on fire, along with
houses belonging to two Aristide supporters. The state girls school
was also set on fire, allegedly by pro-Aristide activists because the
director opposes the government. In Cap-Haïtien, during the night of
7th February, the relay station of Radio Vision2000 (a pro-opposition
station) was set on fire. On the morning of 8th February, Aristide
supporters erected burning tyre barricades across the city's main
roads. In Jacmel, the entrance to the town was blocked during the
night of 7th February by hooded men. (various sources)

8 February - Police fled Gonaïves after failing in bloody battles to
vanquish rebels seeking to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The
reported death toll Sunday in the recent violence rose to at least
18. Some 150 police had tried to retake Gonaïves on Saturday, two
days after armed rebels seized and burned the police station and
drove officers out. Before midnight Saturday, rebel violence had
forced police to withdraw again, leaving seven officers and two
rebels dead.

Police fought gunbattles with armed rebels hiding on side streets and
crouched in doorways. It was unclear how many rebel gunmen were in
the city of 200,000, Haiti's fourth-largest. Crowds mutilated the
corpses of three police officers. One body was dragged through the
street as a man swung at it with a machete, and a woman cut off the
officer's ear. Another policeman was lynched and stripped to his
shorts, and residents dropped a large rock on his body. Haitian radio
stations reported claims by other rebels that as many as 14 police
were killed, but that couldn't be confirmed.

Two other deaths were reported in the nearby west coast town of St.
Marc, where residents on Sunday blocked the town entrance with felled
trees, flaming tires and car chassis. Police fled Saturday after
clashes with armed Aristide opponents that left at least two dead.
Militants have attacked police stations and forced out police in at
least five nearby towns since Friday, Haitian radio reports said.
Judge Walter Pierre told private Radio Ginen that armed men were
occupying the police station in the town of Anse Rouge on Saturday
and had confiscated weapons. (AP)

7 February - In the capital, Port-au-Prince, President Aristide told
a crowd in the slum of Cite Soleil that police were entering Gonaïves
to regain order, and said the government would "disarm the
terrorists." Government spokesman Mario Dupuy said on local radio
stations that the police were once again in control of Gonaïves. But
rebel spokesman Wynter Etienne told radio stations that his forces
maintained control. Aristide was celebrating the third anniversary of
his return to power in 2001 after re-election with thousands of
supporters, who then marched through the streets proclaiming their
support for him. "This was democracy that we made. It's anarchy that
they have made," said Rubens Sofor, one of the hundreds of Aristide
supporters filing down winding streets toward the pro-government
demonstration. (Reuters)

7 February - During the night of 6th February, the main roads across
the Grand'Anse department were cut with road-blocks, and the bus
service from Port-au-Prince had to turn back. According to an unnamed
source, the road-blocks were erected by anti-Aristide activists.
(unattributed source)

5 February - An armed opposition group has seized control of
Gonaïves, Haiti's fourth-largest city, burning a police station,
freeing prisoners and leaving at least four people reported dead and
20 wounded in clashes with police. Members of the Gonaïves Resistance
Front began the assault shortly after noon on Thursday, setting afire
the mayor's home and then dousing the police station with fuel and
lighting it while officers fled, Haitian radio reports said. At least
four people were killed in gunbattles with police, Gonaïves
Resistance Front leader Wynter Etienne told Radio Vision 2000. Radio
Metropole reported 20 people were wounded and more than 100 inmates
were freed from the jail.

Etienne said the group aims to take control of other towns, while the
government vowed to restore order. The attacks "are terrorist acts
undertaken by the armed wing of the opposition," government spokesman
Mario Dupuy said. "The police will have to take measures to
re-establish order."

Members of the group set fire to both the home of Gonaïves Mayor
Stephan Moise and a gas station he owns, private Radio Kiskeya
reported. The group also set fire to a hotel where police often stay,
according to one witness who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Roughly 200,000 people live in Gonaïves and surrounding areas. The
city - located 70 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince - has been the
site of many protests led by supporters of murdered Raboteau leader
Amiot Metayer, who recently changed their name from the "Cannibal
Army" to the Gonaïves Resistance Front. Dupuy, the government
spokesman, said the armed attackers in Gonaïves didn't have the
support of most people in the city and linked the unrest to violence
in the nearby Central Plateau, where in the past year at least 25
people have been killed in violence blamed on a band of anti-Aristide
former soldiers. (AP)

4 February - The Organisation of American States (OAS) has said that
even though the logistics may not be in place for elections in Haiti
within six months, it is still possible for the Haitian government to
create a more stable environment. OAS Assistant Secretary General
Luigi Einaudi told BBC Caribbean Service that the measures President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide agreed to with Caricom in Jamaica on Saturday
are vital to this process. President Aristide has agreed to disarm
gangs, release those detained for demonstrating, and set up a
broad-based advisory council which will lead to reforming the
country's electoral system.

"We are not seeking the overthrow or opposition to President Aristide
the way the opposition is, that has bought us a great deal of
invective," he explained. "On the other hand, we can hardly give
marvellous grades to the government performance on a number of areas
such as disarmament as we would have wanted." He did point out that
President Aristide was not opposed to holding elections and has
called for the opposition to use channels open to them to bring about
peace in Haiti. He said that the opposition's current stance could
take the country to civil war however, President Aristide could
prevent this.

"One hopes that enough of the opposition will realise that they could
be heading the country towards civil war because we have no
indication that President Aristide is prepared to leave one day
earlier than his term," Mr Einaudi said. "We need to see the
government undertake a set of actions that will make it clear to the
entire world and to their opposition that not only is it futile to
attempt to overthrow him, but that they have channels they are not
currently using to be able to bring about a greater democratic
change." (BBC)

3 February - The leader of the opposition Convergence Démocratique,
Evans Paul, told representatives from the Caribbean Community
(Caricom) that he would never hold talks with Aristide again. The
meeting took place in the Bahamian embassy in Petion-Ville, on the
outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince. The Caricom delegation was
headed by the Bahamian foreign affairs minister Fred Mitchell, and
Caricom assistant secretary general Colin Granderson.

Paul said that Aristide was 'leading Caricom down a blind alley' He
said that Aristide's commitment not to stand for re-election was no
concession as he is constitutionally barred from taking part in
elections anyway. 'The first step towards a solution of the current
crisis is the departure of Aristide,' he added. (Latinnews Daily)

3 February - Bahamian Foreign Affairs Minister, Fred Mitchell, and
the Assistant Secretary-General of CARICOM, Colin Granderson, are
travelling to Port-au-Prince to again engage opposition groups in
discussions on matters relating to the Haitian political crisis.
Minister Mitchell said he hoped soon both the opposition and
governing party in Haiti would resume negotiations, signalling the
most significant diplomatic step forward in a country whose political
situation has been described by CARICOM to be at "a perilous
juncture." With increasing distrust over the years, the two sides
discontinued negotiations in 2000, after what the opposition referred
to as a year of "botched" elections. Mitchell said he would meet with
the main opposition groups including the Convergence Democratique
party and a coalition organisation, "Group of 184". It includes
professionals in business, industry, education, civic organisations
and the Protestant Federation of Churches. (Nassau Guardian)

1 February - Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has vowed to
disarm politically affiliated gangs, reform the police force and
implement other measures to end the country's recent unrest. Aristide
made the pledge late Saturday after meeting with the 15-member
Caribbean Community, which put forth the measures that included
allowing demonstrators to protest freely and releasing prisoners who
have been detained since a 5 December protest at Haiti's university.
Aristide had outlawed street protests in the capital.

The Haitian leader also promised to disarm gangs that have caused
much of the violence in support of political parties. He also said he
would reform Haiti's 5,000-member police force and work with the
opposition to appoint a new prime minister. "You need good will on
both sides," Aristide said following the one-day visit to Jamaica. "I
believe my brothers in the opposition will come together for the
benefit of our country."

Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said most of the reforms
should be carried out within four to six weeks. He declined to
outline consequences if Haiti doesn't comply, but said leaders
haven't ruled out sanctions. Aristide also expressed support for a
new governing council made up of members of his government, the
opposition and civil society. Aristide has pledged to hold new
elections, but the opposition coalition refuses to participate unless
he steps down. Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie said he hoped
the new measures would encourage the opposition to negotiate. "We
have to demonstrate a sufficient commitment for change in Haiti to
achieve a level of credibility with the opposition," he said. The
prime ministers of Trinidad and St Lucia and observers from the
United States, Canada and the Organisation of American States also
attended Saturday's talks. (AP)

http://haitisupport.gn.apc.org/fea_news_main.html