18562: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By IAN JAMES

   GONAIVES, Feb 13 (AP) -- Rebels massed in northern Haiti on Friday,
bracing for an expected police offensive aimed at ending an uprising that
has threatened the presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and killed at least
49 people.
   The fourth-largest city of Gonaives remained in the rebel hands while
other Aristide foes vowed to hold a mass demonstration Sunday in the
capital, Port-au-Prince.
   "We won't back down," said opposition politician and former Aristide
supporter Evans Paul.
   On Thursday, Aristide militants crushed an opposition protest by
attacking gathering demonstrators with rocks and sticks and blocking the
route with flaming barricades.
   Humanitarian agencies warned of a looming crisis as rebels gathered for
an expected police offensive to end the uprising that has killed at least
49 people in a week and destabilized the battered country.
   Aristide supporters blocked the highway leading into Cap-Haitien against
a feared rebel incursion, also cutting off fuel supplies that have left the
northern port that is Haiti's second city without power for nearly a week.
A barge with gasoline was on its way.
   In the western city of St. Marc, where police have driven out rebels,
arsonists early Friday morning burned down the home of anti-Aristide
businessman Franck Paultre, Radio Metropole reported.
   U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell planned to discuss the insurrection
at a meeting Friday in Washington with leaders from the Caribbean, Canada
and the Organization of American States.
   The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Haiti had no
facilities to cope with the consequences of the bloodshed.
   "The hospitals in Port-au-Prince and other cities are receiving wounded
people in urgent need of medical care," the Geneva-based organization said.
"Many medical facilities, however, are not functioning because staff fear
for their own safety. The situation is also preventing sorely needed
medical supplies from being delivered by humanitarian organizations."
   Port-au-Prince has been largely unaffected by the rebellion, but it is
where police, government supporters and anti-government demonstrators clash
during regular protests.
   On Thursday, the Aristide supporters began lobbing rocks as protesters
tried to gather. Protest organizers said one person was hit by a bullet and
three were injured by rocks.
   Associated Press Television News footage showed Aristide loyalists
chasing an opponent and stoning him as he fled, stumbled and fell. His
condition was unknown.
   An Aristide partisan also pulled a gun on a U.S. Embassy security
officer observing Thursday's events from a diplomatic vehicle, which then
sped away, witnesses said.
   Police retreated to their station when the protesters were attacked,
offering no protection.
   Critics at home and abroad have accused Aristide of blocking similar
demonstrations by allowing police and supporters to attack opponents --
charges the Haitian president denies.
   More than a dozen police stations have been gutted in fires in the
revolt because they symbolize Aristide's authority and police are accused
of attacking government opponents and extorting money from them.
   With only 5,000 officers in the force, the government is ill-equipped to
respond to the rebellion that started a week ago in Gonaives. On Friday it
remained in the hands of rebels who were preparing for an expected police
offensive.
   Raoul Elysee, president of the Haitian Red Cross for the region, said
tens of thousands of people have fled in recent months.
   "The violence since last Thursday has only increased the number of
people leaving," Elysee said. "Many, many people left, about 100,000 remain
... a little less than half what it was."
   The exodus began after the assassination in September of Amiot Metayer,
leader of the Cannibal Army, a gang that says it was armed by Aristide to
terrorize his opponents, he said.
   Many who once backed the president have turned their backs on him as
poverty has persisted and international donors have frozen millions of
dollars in aid over flawed 2000 legislative elections.
   On Thursday, panicked residents of Gonaives ran through streets
screaming that police were launching a counterattack from a boat.
   Gunmen yelling "Freedom or death!" rushed to the port and trained their
weapons on an approaching vessel, which retreated. It was too far away to
see if it held police.
   One rebel leader, Winter Etienne, said they were taking their battle to
other cities.
   Haiti has suffered 32 coups in 200 years, the last in 1991 when Aristide
was ousted eight months after he became the Caribbean nation's first freely
elected leader. Then-President Clinton sent 20,000 U.S. troops in 1994 to
end brutal military rule, restore Aristide and halt the exodus of boat
people.