18405: (Chamberlain) Haiti police retake towns, govt gangs hit back (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Christie

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Pro-government militia launched
violent counterattacks against foes of Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide and authorities said on Tuesday they had regained control of at
least two towns from armed rebels.
     It was unclear from radio reports who controlled key provincial towns
six days after armed gangs began the most dangerous challenge in months of
protests to Aristide's rule.
     Homes of opposition figures had been burned or shot at in rebel-held
areas of the north, and suspected leaders of the revolt had been shot,
detained or had disappeared, radio reports said.
     Since the revolt in Haiti began last week, at least 30 people have
been killed although some radio reports put that figure far higher. Attacks
by opposition groups have taken place in at least seven towns and cities.
     The United States said resolving the upheaval would need major changes
in the way Haiti is governed and a senior official said this could mean
Aristide stepping down.
     "It's clear from the kind of proposals that have been made and the
discussions that are being held that when we talk about undergoing change
in the way Haiti is governed, I think that could indeed involve changes in
Aristide's position," he said.
     Prime Minister Yvon Neptune said the 5,000-member police force could
not alone restore order in the poorest country in the Americas, and needed
the support of the population, who he said continued to back Haiti's first
elected leader.
     Haiti does not have an army to rely on for public order as it was
disbanded after Aristide was restored to power in 1994 by a U.S.-led
invasion. The former Roman Catholic priest had been kicked out by a
military coup three years before, just months into his first term.
     "The mission of the police force is not to declare war, or to go to
war. We are not pretending that the police force has the capacity to deal
alone with a group of terrorists who have heavy and sophisticated weapons,"
Neptune said.
     "But what we know is that with the help of the population who is
opposed to terrorism, the national police force and the government, we will
find ways to get rid of the terrorists," he told Reuters in an interview.
     In addition to the large port of Saint Marc, 65 miles (105 km) north
of the capital Port-au-Prince, police reasserted state control in the town
of Grand Goave, to the southwest, which had been abandoned by its small
police detachment over the weekend and declared itself against the
government.
     Unconfirmed radio reports said police had again left Saint Marc --
possibly handing control to a pro-government militia -- after entering in
heavily armed numbers Monday and delivering a morale boost to the
dispirited police forces.
     The police suffered heavy casualties between Thursday and Saturday
battling rebels in Gonaives, Haiti's fourth largest city and the place
where it declared independence in 1804 after an army of slaves defeated the
French on the battlefield.
     Aristide's once overwhelming popularity has waned since parliamentary
elections in 2000 were declared flawed, and the Gonaives revolt, led by a
militia that once supported him, capped months of demonstrations from
opponents who accuse him of corruption and political violence.
     Police stations across the Caribbean country of 8 million people have
been set alight since the revolt spread from Gonaives. Neptune said that
rather than occupying towns, rebels were staging "hit and run" raids and
then vanishing.
     In the meantime, it appeared that government supporters were hitting
back. Independent Radio Metropole said two opposition leaders were shot,
and 12 houses burned to the ground in the northern town of Dondon, briefly
held on Monday by anti-government gunmen.
     In Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, in the north, a
restaurant and two banks went up in flames after a pro-government militia
attacked an opposition neighborhood. Several people were detained, suffered
gunshot wounds or had disappeared, it said.
     In Port-au-Prince, the National Coalition for the Rights of Haitians
said at least five opposition members were lynched or executed in the slum
of Cite Soleil. The group accused rebels in Gonaives of summarily executing
captured police officers, and called on both sides to respect human rights.
     Port-au-Prince has been unusually quiet as the revolt spread in the
provinces, and the opposition canceled a planned demonstration over the
weekend. Anti-Aristide students holed up in a university faculty said many
had been harassed by government supporters.