18925: (Chamberlain) Aristide supporters attack students as ... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Christie

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Supporters of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide armed with guns, rocks and machetes attacked an
opposition student march in the Haitian capital on Friday as foreigners
fled the country torn by an armed rebellion.
     At least 17 people were injured by buckshot, rocks or shrapnel from
flying bullets a day before U.S., Canadian and regional officials were due
to arrive to try to defuse long-simmering tensions that erupted two weeks
ago into a revolt in which more than 50 people have died.
     The diplomatic effort is limited to bringing together Aristide and the
political opposition, rather than the armed gangs, joined by former
soldiers and a death squad leader, who booted police out of several towns
and villages in the northwest and center of the poor Caribbean country.
     But the military commander of the rebels, who have declared an
"independent" country in the city of Gonaives, the central town of Hinche
and other areas they control, said they were prepared to take part in a
peace process if it met their demands for Aristide to step down.
     "We have never ruled out a peaceful solution," said Guy Philippe, a
former police chief of Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, whom
Aristide once accused of fomenting a coup and who came back from exile in
the Dominican Republic to join the armed revolt.
     "If they reach a good deal, we are prepared to collaborate," Philippe
said in Gonaives, dressed in military fatigues and surrounded by former
soldiers from Haiti's disbanded military.
     Restored to power by a U.S.-led occupation in 1994 after being ousted
in a coup, Aristide led Haiti into democracy after decades of dictatorship
when first elected in 1990. He won a second term of office in 2000, but the
presidential elections were boycotted by the opposition over earlier flawed
parliamentary elections.
     But the former parish priest now faces accusations of corruption and
political violence.
     Overtaking towns by forcing poorly trained and frightened police to
flee, the rebels have presented no agenda other than giving themselves
titles and saying they aim to take control of the rest of the country and
topple Aristide.
     With little sign of a quick fix, the United States and Canada advised
their citizens to leave. Missionaries and aid workers clogged the airport
in the chaotic capital of 2 million people on Friday.
     The Pentagon said a U.S. military team had arrived to conduct a
security assessment for the U.S. Embassy, which was closed for the five-day
Carnival holiday. A spokeswoman said two embassy cars were fired on earlier
in the week.
     The revolt, begun on Feb. 5 by a gang that once served as enforcers
for Aristide's ruling Lavalas Family party, was countered ferociously in
some parts of the country by the president's supporters, who burned down
opponent's homes and executed rebel sympathizers.
     Police took no action when armed youths pounced on the student march
and also attacked foreign journalists.
     As foreign peace efforts got under way, both the government and the
opposition Democratic Platform held talks with diplomats from the United
States, Canada, France, the Organization of American States and Caribbean
Community (Caricom), on Friday to lay the groundwork for a higher-level
mission on Saturday.
     U.S. Ambassador James Foley met Aristide and told him to accept a plan
to install a new prime minister who could choose Cabinet members.
     The international delegation's proposal is broadly based on a recent
deal brokered by Caricom that calls for a broad-based advisory council, a
new prime minister and the disarming of gangs aligned with the Lavalas
party.
     But some opposition leaders warned they would not accept any peace
plan that does not include Aristide's resignation, an option he has
rejected.
     "I hope they're not coming back with the same position," said Charles
Baker, a wealthy industrialist and fervent foe of Aristide. "We'll both be
wasting our time."

  (Additional reporting by Amy Bracken and Carlos Valdez)