18474: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By IAN JAMES

   GONAIVES, Feb 11 (AP) -- To cheers of approval, rebels set ablaze an
accused government hit man and shot another man Wednesday, raising the
death toll to 46 in a popular uprising that began in this traditional
hotbed of revolutionary fervor. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said he
would not resign.
   South of Gonaives, police attacked rebels holed up in a slum in the port
city of St. Marc, and witnesses said gunmen loyal to Aristide torched
homes, killing two people, as looting and reprisals raged.
   In northern Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, sporadic gunshots
crackled overnight, attackers looted a food warehouse and Aristide
militants set up blazing barricades to prevent a possible rebel incursion.
   The armed revolt has spread to several of the nation's towns and cities
since beginning last Thursday in Gonaives, about 60 miles north of the
capital, Port-au-Prince. But the weeklong rebellion has become somewhat of
a stalemate, and much of the country remains quiet.
   Critics have accused Aristide's government of inciting some of the
violence, and the White House issued a rebuke Wednesday.
   "We are extremely concerned about the wave of violence spreading through
Haiti," said Scott McClellan, press secretary to President Bush. "We call
on the government to respect the rights, especially human rights, of the
citizens and residents of Haiti."
   At his first news conference since the uprising, Aristide on Wednesday
refused to resign and said the rebels -- whom he labeled terrorists -- were
allied with the political opposition.
   "They suffer from a small group of thugs linked to the opposition ...
acting on behalf of the opposition," Aristide told journalists in the
capital, adding he would step down only when his term expires.
   "I will leave the palace Feb. 7, 2006," he said, without addressing how
he planned to put down the insurrection. His officials have said that, to
prevent civilian casualties, any counterattacks must be part of a strategy
that could take time to plan.
   Aristide will be tested Thursday when the Democratic Platform, a broad
coalition that has distanced itself from the bloody revolt, has called for
a massive demonstration for Haitians to show Aristide they no longer want
his leadership.
   "Aristide created the climate of violence and he will use the violence
against him to justify an even greater violence," said Leslie Manigat, who
was president for five months in 1988 before the army deposed him.
   Opposition parties have refused to participate in new elections unless
Aristide steps down. Tension has mounted since Aristide's party swept
flawed legislative elections in 2000.
   Many who once swore allegiance to Aristide have turned their guns on his
police, saying the government is corrupt and has betrayed them. They ask
what Haitians have gained since escaped slaves defeated Napoleon's army 200
years ago and declared independence in Gonaives' central Place d'Armes.
   "We're prepared to die for Gonaives," said Michelet Louis, among
fighters who patrolled the rubble-strewn streets of the rebel-held town.
   Crowds cheered as rebels swooped down on an alleged Aristide hit man and
applied a common assassination method called "necklacing."
   "They put tires on him and burned him," said Patricia Joseph, 17.
"Everyone stood up and said it was good."
   Rebels also shot an escaped convict and one-time Aristide supporter when
he refused to surrender his rifle, according to witness Reynald Kazeles,
27. The man was shot eight times.
   The uprising erupted here last week when rebels attacked the police
station, torching it and the mayor's house.
   The courthouse stood deserted on Wednesday, government offices were
closed and hospitals understaffed. Supplies were running low and food
prices have spiraled because barricades have blocked deliveries on Haiti's
main south-north highway, which goes though Gonaives.
   At a gas station where a scuffle broke out over the last dregs of
gasoline, rebels thrust their rifles high in the air in warning and shouted
"Get in line! Don't push!"
   The crowd obeyed but quickly scattered when someone set off a tear gas
canister apparently seized from police who fled Gonaives.
   "I want to resell it (gas) to try to buy some flour to make food,
because I'm starving," said Antrecil Petithomme, who looked in her 60s.
   Meanwhile, people with jackhammers smashed the charred remains of the
police station. "We're destroying (it) to show them we're with the rebel
forces," said Emmanuel Bien-Aime, a 28-year-old student.
   Politicians have historically looked for support in Gonaives, the cradle
of Haiti's independence movement and a traditional center of resistance
that was a recruitment point for rebels in the 19th century.
   A similar uprising in 1985 also started in Gonaives and brought down the
29-year Duvalier family dictatorship. Protests and strikes begun here
helped oust President Elie Lescot in 1946 and Paul Magloire in 1956.
   Aristide was popular in Gonaives when he won his second term in 2000 on
promises to champion the poor. But his support began to erode as followers
watched a new government elite emerge while little was done to improve
lives assaulted by poverty and violence.
   Some rebels say Aristide armed their gang, then called the "Cannibal
Army," to terrorize his opponents in Gonaives.
   But they turned on Aristide after gang leader Amiot Metayer was found
killed last year, accusing the government of getting rid of him to stop him
from releasing damaging information about Aristide -- a charge the
government denies.
   Unrest brewing across the country soured bicentennial celebrations Jan.
1. Despite warnings from rebels, Aristide flew to Gonaives to deliver his
bicentennial speech -- but most of the city's 200,000 stayed home, as did
diplomats and dignitaries.
   "We want freedom, but we cannot find this freedom," said Jackson Noel, a
50-year-old tailor. "Things are getting harder and horrible, so the
solution is to get rid of him."