18769: (HermantinPalm Beach Post- Haitian leaders appeal for help (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitian leaders appeal for help

By Mike Williams, Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service
Wednesday, February 18, 2004



PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haitian leaders pleaded for help from overseas
Tuesday, even as the countries most likely to give assistance urged them to
solve their own problems and downplayed the chance of any foreign
intervention.

Meanwhile, a force of rebels rumored to have a helicopter and led by a
feared figure from one of Haiti's past dictatorships consolidated its hold
on a key city in the country's central plateau, escalating an armed revolt
that has swept through a dozen towns since Feb. 5.

Mindful of the fall of the city of Hinche on Monday, Haitian Prime Minister
Yvon Neptune said his government was "witnessing the coup d'etat machine in
motion," and pleaded with the international community to "show that it
really wants peace and stability in Haiti."

Neptune stopped short of an outright call for foreign troops, following the
lead of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who on Monday asked his
neighbors for "technical assistance."

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin held an emergency
meeting to consider how to help, and was said to be considering the
possibility of sending French peacekeepers from his country's nearby
Caribbean territories, where some 4,000 French troops are based.

Such a task, however, "is very difficult" in the midst of a violent
rebellion, he told France-Inter radio, although he noted that Haiti is "in a
catastrophic situation."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was more blunt, telling reporters in
Washington that "there is frankly no enthusiasm" for sending peacekeepers to
Haiti.

His comments were echoed in Haiti, where U.S. Ambassador James Foley called
on Haitian leaders to resolve the crisis through negotiations.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the United Nations plans
to become more actively engaged in Haiti's crisis.

Staff members for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also met Tuesday
in Washington with U.S. and Caribbean officials to weigh the chances that
Haiti's crisis could lead to a new wave of boat people leaving the
impoverished island.

Fleeing Haitians have taken to the seas in large numbers during past
political crises, many heading for South Florida, but U.N. officials said
there are no signs so far of a significant exodus.

Aristide's government has been under growing pressure since a round of
street protests began in the fall, led by the political opposition, students
and a coalition of business and civic groups. Aristide has rebuffed their
calls for his resignation, and the two sides remain locked in a political
stalemate stemming from disputed legislative elections in 2000.

But the situation took a serious turn in early February, when a band of
former Aristide supporters took over the port city of Gonaives, sparking
rebellions in several smaller towns.

More than 50 people have died so far in the fighting, which has left much of
northern Haiti cut off from the capital, halting most aid shipments.

In recent days, many Haitians shuddered to learn that Louis Jodel Chamblain,
once head of a feared paramilitary group during Haiti's last dictatorship in
the early 1990s, had joined forces with the rebels holding Gonaives.

Chamblain was seen in Hinche on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Hinche is about 70 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince, and its fall gives
rebels control of the Artibonite region, Haiti's valuable breadbasket and
home to 1 million people.

Aristide's government has only a force of 3,500 to 5,000 police officers,
many poorly equipped, with which to defend itself. A former parish priest
who became the country's first democratically-elected president in 1990,
Aristide disbanded the military after he was ousted in a 1991 coup.

mwilliams@coxnews.com

_________________________________________________________________
Take off on a romantic weekend or a family adventure to these great U.S.
locations. http://special.msn.com/local/hotdestinations.armx