18748: (Craig) UN Foundation Wire - Haitian President Appeals For Help (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>

  Haitian President Appeals For Help
Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed yesterday for
international help as former paramilitary forces joined the 11-day-old
uprising and seized control of the central city of Hinche.

"Blood has flowed in Hinche," Aristide said, adding that he has asked
the Organization for American States for assistance.  "It may be that
the police cannot cope with this kind of attack."

Rebels have chased Haiti's 5,000-strong police force from a dozen towns,
blockading roads and cutting off northern Haiti from the rest of the island.

About 50 rebels descended yesterday on Hinche, killing three officers
before the police fled the city, which lies about 70 miles northeast of
the capital, Port-au-Prince (Mark Stevenson, Associated Press/Yahoo!
News, Feb. 17).

Witnesses said the rebels were led by Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former
soldier and leader of the paramilitary group Front for the Advancement
and Progress of Haiti, which allegedly killed and maimed hundreds
of Aristide supporters between 1991 and 1994.  Chamblain fled to the
Dominican Republic in the mid-1990s.

Also identified was Guy Philippe, a former police chief who fled to the
Dominican Republic after being accused by the Haitian government
of fomenting rebellion in 2002.

"We don't have any platform," Philippe said in a video obtained by AP
Television News.  "Our fight is for a better country ... We are fighting
for the presidency, we're fighting for the people, for our
convictions"  (Michael Norton, AP/Yahoo! News, Feb. 16).

Insurgents escorted an aid convoy yesterday into the rebel-held city of
Gonaives.  Led by the International Committee of the red Cross, the
convoy carried 1.6 tons of medical and other supplies.  Humanitarian
groups Medecins sans Frontieres and CARE have also said they will
provide aid (Stevenson, AP/Yahoo! News).

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said today that France is
prepared to offer humanitarian assistance to Haiti, but he stopped short
of saying his nation would send a peacekeeping force (Reuters, Feb. 17).

"We want to think about what could be done in this emergency situation.
Could a peace force be deployed?" he told a French-owned radio
station.  "We are in touch with all our partners within the framework of
the United Nations" on the issue, he added.

France has set up a crisis unit on the situation, he said, which will
hold its first meeting today (Agence France-Presse/ReliefWeb, Feb. 17).

Discontent has grown in Haiti since Aristide's party swept flawed
legislative elections and international donors froze millions of dollars
to the impoverished Caribbean state in 2000 (Norton, AP/Yahoo! News).

Thousands of protesters reportedly flooded the streets of Port-au-Prince
Sunday, calling for Aristide's resignation.  Witnesses said the
demonstration was peaceful, but a similar rally planned for Thursday has
been cancelled amid fears of violence (Deutsche Presse
Agentur/ReliefWeb, Feb. 15).

UNICEF appealed Thursday to all parties to protect the safety and rights
of children in Haiti, particularly in places where violent conflict is
taking place.  The agency urged against arming, training or involving
children in the conflict, in conformity with the U.N. Convention on the
Rights of the Child.

The agency will provide emergency relief assistance for children in the
affected areas, as well as intensifying information and advocacy for
child rights to ensure the observance of international law provisions on
the rights of civilian populations in conflict  (UNICEF release, Feb. 12).


http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20040217/449_13175.asp