18448: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By IAN JAMES

   CAP-HAITIEN, Feb 11 (AP) -- Police attacked rebels holed up in a slum in
the port city of St. Marc on Tuesday and armed civilians loyal to President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide stoked fiery barricades to keep insurgents out of
Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, in efforts to stem a revolt that
has killed at least 42.
   In Gonaives, where the uprising began last Thursday, rebels controlled
crowds fighting over dwindling gasoline supplies and quashed rumors that
police were advancing in an attempt to retake the city.
   Radio reports said gunmen had torched two northern police stations on
Monday, forcing police to flee from the town of Limbe and the remote hamlet
of Bassin Bleu. Police stations have been a major target of the revolt --
which the government calls a coup attempt -- because they symbolize
Aristide's authority and officers are accused of siding with government
supporters in increasingly violent protests that began mid-September.
   The Democratic Platform, a group including opposition political parties,
civic and business groups and grassroots and human rights organizations,
said it was trying to get government permission for a peaceful
demonstration in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Thursday. Critics have
accused Aristide's government of blocking such protests and using its
supporters to attack protesting opponents.
   Aid organizations on Wednesday warned of a looming food crisis, saying
deliveries to some 270,000 people dependent on food aid are being blocked
by barricades. Several towns already are without electricity and gasoline.
   Dozens of barricades, made up of burned-out trucks, commandeered cars,
boulders, felled trees and blazing tires set atop heaps of garbage, have
blocked the road to northern Haiti at Gonaives, 60 miles north of
Port-au-Prince, the capital.
   Brandishing pistols, bands of drunken pro-Aristide youths threw rocks at
passing cars in the northern port city of Cap-Haitien. They said they were
protecting the half-million residents of Haiti's second-largest city, a
former Aristide stronghold where his support has dwindled.
   On the diplomatic front, the United States and the 15-member Caribbean
Community ruled out military intervention, urging Aristide to negotiate a
peaceful resolution.
   The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Bush administration is
suggesting that it might support Aristide's stepping down as part of a
political settlement.
   That angered Aristide officials: "We do not understand how the United
States could think of questioning an essential element of democracy, which
is the term of an elected president," said Jonas Petit, the acting head of
Aristide's Lavalas Family party.
   In Trinidad, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said the Caribbean Community
would not impose itself on a member state. He said the community remained
willing to send peacekeepers, but Aristide's government rebuffed that offer
last month.
   In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that
the U.S. military has "no plans to do anything." The United States sent
20,000 troops to Haiti in 1995 to end a military dictatorship, restore
Aristide to power and halt an influx of Haitian refugees.
   U.S. State Department officials said they were on the alert for any
possible new rush of Haitian boatpeople. U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt.
Tony Russell said so far the numbers have remained steady with about 1,500
Haitians stopped at sea every year since 1998.
   "They haven't taken to the sea yet. We're standing at the ready,"
Russell said.
   Haiti, the most volatile and impoverished country in the Western
Hemisphere, has suffered increasing violence since Aristide's party swept
2000 legislative elections that international observers said were flawed.
All major opposition parties boycotted subsequent presidential balloting,
leaving Aristide to win on a very low voter turnout.
   International donors have blocked millions in aid, and deepening poverty
is lessening support for Aristide, a former priest who promised to champion
the poor, while strengthening opponents who refuse to participate in new
elections unless Aristide resigns.
   The political opposition this week distanced itself from the bloody
uprising that has affected 11 towns in northern and western Haiti, saying
they want a peaceful solution. The rebels are led by several factions,
including former Aristide supporters and former soldiers who helped oust
Aristide in 1991.
   In St. Marc, witnesses reported that police had moved in on rebels holed
up in a midtown slum and a firefight was going on.
   Rebels seized the important port city on Sunday and hundreds of
residents took advantage of the chaos, looting TV sets, mattresses and
sacks of flour from shipping containers.
   On Monday, after sporadic gunbattles, police reoccupied the town.
   Haiti has suffered more than 30 coups in 200 years, the last in 1991
when Aristide was ousted just months after becoming the Caribbean nation's
first freely elected leader. President Clinton sent 20,000 U.S. troops in
1994 to restore Aristide.