18587: Burnham: Globe and Mail (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: thor burnham <thorald_mb@hotmail.com>

In Haiti, fear is all around
By PAUL KNOX

Thursday, Feb 12, 2004
ST. MARC, HAITI

Fear is a gaggle of menacing toughs on a ramshackle main thoroughfare,
waving rifles and
pistols to halt vehicles and summarily search their occupants.

Fear is the nearly deserted market section of this central Haitian town,
where the shops are left vacant and many inhabitants have fled for safety to
the countryside.

Fear is a dark living room in a house just off the main street, filled with
plastic flowers, china figurines and a palpable apprehension.

Members of a nervous family describe the battles that have raged for several
days in St. Marc between pro- and anti-government forces. Then they hustle
their guests out the back door, in case the unusual activity is noticed by
the Bale Wouze, a pro-government militia that controls much of the town.

"People are afraid the Bale Wouze are about to burn down their houses,"
whispers the young car mechanic who lives in the house. As sporadic rifle
fire sounds in the distance, he hardly needs to add: "They do whatever they
want."

St. Marc is a key battleground in the rebellion against President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a struggle that has gripped Haiti for several months
and escalated dramatically in the past two weeks.

Members of an anti-Aristide gang known as Ramicos overran the police station
Saturday and burned it down, establishing effective control over the town as
residents flocked to loot shops. The town was retaken Monday by a combined
force of the Haitian National Police and the Bale Wouze group, according to
residents.

At least two people were reported killed at the hands of Aristide loyalists
yesterday.

But several other centres remain in the hands of the rebels, former Aristide
allies who have turned against the President as well as ex-soldiers from
Haiti's disbanded army.

The communities include Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest city and a breeding
ground for assaults on the central government during the country's turbulent
200-year history. There, rebels set ablaze an accused government hit man and
shot another person yesterday, according to Associated Press.

Mr. Aristide's opponents, who include non-violent protesters based in
Port-au-Prince as well as the rebel gangs, are demanding that he step down.

They say his 2000 election was rigged and accuse him of massive corruption
and of instigating political violence. The President says he is the victim
of an attempted coup d'état that has the backing of the tiny wealthy elite
in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.

In St. Marc yesterday, few seemed interested in discussing the finer points
of political negotiations or election timetables. What mattered on the
street was power. At least in the centre of town, it was firmly in the hands
of Bale Wouze.

A few uniformed police lounged outside a post on the main street. But the
checkpoint nearby was manned by gun-toting men in civilian clothes, as well
as a tall figure wearing a military camouflage uniform and a navy-blue ski
mask. They stopped a bus, told dozens of passengers to step outside, and
patted them down.

No one was much inclined to speak on the record, either -- except Amanus
Mayette, a pro-Aristide member of the parliament whose mandate expired Jan.
12.

He proudly claimed to be a leader of Bale Wouze, a group organized in the
1980s to hasten the departure of dictator Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier.
The Haitian Creole name means "sweep them out and hose them down," he
explained.

Mr. Mayette was receiving callers in his kitchen, behind a door with phrases
from an English lesson written on it in white chalk. Four car batteries were
wired together in a corner of the room, either as a permanent power supply
or as insurance against Haiti's frequent blackouts.

His cousin's house had been burned to the ground by the rebels, he said. He
dismissed them as "a band of thieves" and said there was a "formal
connection" among Bale Wouze, the police and civilian authorities.

St. Marc residents support the government, he asserted: "The population has
been very vigilant. They know what to do to stand up to this movement."

The checkpoint was erected to ensure no one carried weapons north to the
rebels in Gonaives, he added.

Outside, a youth carrying an automatic rifle and wearing a blue peaked
police cap stood guard. There was noticeably less activity in the street
than at Montrouis, 15 kilometres south.

Several bystanders who said they backed Mr. Aristide criticized his
opponents for demanding his resignation. "If they just wanted to divide up
the pie, [Mr. Aristide] would do it," said a journalist at a local radio
station.

"But now the opposition wants the whole thing."

As rifle shots sounded in the side streets, he said Bale Wouze members were
"shooting in the air to stop people from congregating in one place."

But inside the fear-filled living room, the young mechanic said the armed
gangs were aiming to kill Mr. Aristide's opponents. He described street gun
battles that took place on the weekend in La Syrie, a neighbourhood known
for its anti-Aristide sympathies.

"The government pretends it's in control, but it's all lies," he said. "The
police station was burned. They don't have a base to operate from."

Then, after perhaps 10 minutes, his mother appeared. She insisted the
conversation had to stop and implored her visitors to leave.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040212/NEWHAITI12/Columnists/Columnist?author=Paul+Knox

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