18391: (Chamberlain) Haitian police take back another town - reports (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Christie

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Haitian police have taken back
control of two towns from armed rebels opposed to President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide and apparently put a temporary halt to a spreading revolt
threatening the government, radio reports said on Tuesday.
     In addition to the large port city of Saint Marc, north of the capital
Port-au-Prince, police reasserted state control in the town of Grand Goave,
to the southwest of the capital, local radio said.
     The report about Grand Goave, which had been abandoned by its small
police detachment over the weekend, could not be confirmed. There was also
an unconfirmed report that the town of Dondon, briefly held on Monday by
anti-government gunmen, was back under government control.
     Haitian radio, the main source of news in this Caribbean country of 8
million where the majority of people are illiterate, is often unreliable.
     Half a dozen other towns, including Haiti's fourth-largest city,
Gonaives, appeared to remain in rebel hands. But the police successes after
five days of being beaten back, driven out or having fled would be a morale
boost for the demoralized force.
     Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas and one where few have
wage-earning jobs, does not have an army and the police force numbers under
5,000. The military was disbanded under international supervision when
Aristide was restored to power in 1994 by a U.S.-led invasion.
     The former Roman Catholic priest had been deposed in a bloody military
coup shortly after taking power as Haiti's first democratically elected
leader in 1991.
     Aristide was re-elected in 2000 but his once overwhelming popularity
has waned since parliamentary elections earlier that year were declared
flawed. The president has faced increasing anti-government protests in
recent months from opponents who accuse him of corruption and political
violence.
     The tensions boiled over last week when an armed gang once aligned
with the president attacked the police station in Gonaives -- birthplace of
Haiti's independence 200 years ago -- and took over the city of an
estimated 200,000 people.
     As the revolt spread through several other towns, leaving dozens dead,
the rebellion was joined by other anti-Aristide gangs, and former
supporters tired of endless poverty and what they see as the government's
broken promises. Former soldiers from the disbanded army are also thought
to be involved.
     An attempt by police to take back Gonaives on Saturday was bloodily
defeated, and around 21 police may have been killed in and around that
city.
     But the government says a police force made up partly of members from
a special presidential guard managed to roll into Saint Marc, the largest
town on the road to Gonaives, with little resistance on Monday.
     A Reuters Television cameraman saw one dead civilian in the streets of
the slum city, and local radio reported the police had been assisted by
armed Aristide supporters.