18982: (Chamberlain) Haiti rebels attack police outpost near capital (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Carlos Valdez

    POSTE CAZEAUX, Haiti, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Armed rebels fighting
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide attacked a police station north of
Port-au-Prince overnight in what appeared to be the nearest assault yet to
Haiti's capital but on Sunday pro-government forces seized back the
station.
     The attack on Poste Cazeaux, only 12 miles (20 km) north of the
capital, began overnight on Saturday but by Sunday morning pro-Aristide's
forces were back in control, and a Reuters TV crew saw no sign of the
rebels.
     Until now, some dozen villages and towns have been seized in a
two-week-old uprising by gangs and militias in central and northwestern
Haiti, far from the capital
     The armed revolt in the poorest country in the Americas, capping
months of political tension, has sent foreigners fleeing and posed the most
serious threat to Aristide since he was ousted in a coup shortly after his
first term began in 1991.
     On Sunday, the political opposition, which is opposed both to the
rebels and the government, huddled in a secret location to debate a last
ditch U.S.-backed diplomatic effort to diffuse the bloody uprising that has
killed more than 50 people.
     Aristide accepted Saturday's plan, which put the ball in the court of
a political opposition made up of a motley array of rich businessmen,
political parties and civil rights groups. They have a Monday deadline to
agree but were critical of the plan that would allow more opposition power
in government but keep Aristide in power.
     Aristide agreed to the same plan at talks with Caribbean Community
nations last month but the opposition rejected it.
     "I have doubts about the plan. The general attitude of our members is
that Aristide must go," Charles Baker, a wealthy businessman and prominent
opposition leader, told Reuters. He said the meeting was secret to avoid
attacks by pro-Aristide gangs that often attack opposition rallies.
     "But let's wait and see," he added.
     The plan does not address how to stem the growing armed revolt.
Rebels, who often appear popular among villagers, say they will push across
the country until Aristide quits.
     Some Haitians think diplomacy could soon play second fiddle to the
revolt, sparked after insurgents booted the police out of the western city
of Gonaives on Feb. 5.
     The rebels, who started out as a gang that once supported the
president, have been joined by former soldiers from the disbanded army and
a leader of a death squad that terrorized the country during a 1990s
military dictatorship.
     The opposition faces increasing international pressure to water down
their demand that Aristide, whom they accuse of running a dictatorship with
brutal street gangs and police, to quit. Diplomats have bluntly told the
groups that international aid for Haiti to help battle the rebels is
conditioned on them accepting the plan.
     "We said (to the opposition): 'Don't ask the international community
to push for Aristide's resignation.' That's for the Haitian people to
decide, not for us," Denis Coderre, Canada's representative on the trip to
Haiti, told Reuters from his plane as he flew back to Ottawa on Saturday
night.
     Aristide, a former parish priest, was once seen as a champion of
democracy in Haiti after decades of dictatorships but is now accused of
autocratic and thuggish politics. The revolt in Gonaives came after months
of street protests, frequently attacked by armed Aristide loyalists.
     Aristide was restored to power in 1994 by a U.S. invasion after his
first term was interrupted by a coup. He was reelected to a second term in
2000, but those elections were boycotted by the opposition.