19090: (Hermantin)Sun-sentinel-Port-au-Prince calm but tense while awaiting rebels (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Port-au-Prince calm but tense while awaiting rebels

By Tim Collie
Staff Writer
Posted February 24 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE · An uneasy calm settled over Haiti's capital city in the
midst of the national holiday Carnival on Monday, as anti-government rebels
threatened to overtake one of the last remaining strongholds of embattled
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Government loyalists set barricades on fire at the city's borders to block
rebel leaders' entry along the road to this capital, as 50 armed U.S.
Marines flew to the capital to protect the U.S. Embassy and its staff.

The traditional Carnival crowds were nowhere to be found, as peaceful
anti-Aristide protesters reiterated calls for him to resign and loyalists
voiced support at small demonstrations. Traffic was light on the capital's
main thoroughfares. Many Haitians said they are tired and scared in the face
of the escalating rebellion that has spread to more than a dozen cities and
led to the deaths of about 70 people, most of them pro-Aristide police
officers.

"It's just been terrible; you don't leave the house at night, and you don't
stray far during the day," said Marie Jean Charles, 22. "Things are just
very different. It's hard to describe people because they're acting so
strange. I've never been through anything like this before. You don't know
what's going to happen next."

One day after rebels captured Cap-Haïtien, Haiti's second-largest city, and
threatened to overtake Port-au-Prince next, capital city police were on
alert, but no incidents of violence were reported.

American Patrick Moynihan, who has lived in Haiti running a school for
gifted children since 1996, condemned the escalating violence that has
gripped Haiti. Moynihan could not return to his home because of barricades
arrayed around his neighborhood near Tabarre, the upscale area where
Aristide maintains his residence.

"I'm at a barricade with a 19-year-old kid with a gun asking me what
business I have in my neighborhood," said Moynihan. "That's what it's come
down to."

Fifty U.S. Marines landed Monday afternoon in Port-au-Prince to protect the
U.S. Embassy. With rifles at the ready, about 20 Marines in combat gear and
helmets rushed off the U.S. Air Force transport plane at Toussaint
L'ouverture International Airport and ran to make a secure perimeter around
the aircraft before the other Marines got off.

Also Monday, France urged its citizens to leave the former French colony --
a week after the United States and Mexico issued similar recommendations for
its citizens. About 30,000 foreigners are in Haiti, including about 20,000
Americans, 2,000 French and 1,000 Canadians.

At the Port-au-Prince airport, many Haitians said they were angry, sad and
depressed at what many described as anarchy in many places across the
nation.

"I don't know anything, really, about what's going on," said Dorcant
Similhomme, 70, a farmer. "It's politics and all beyond me. You wake up, go
to your little piece of land, work it and come home and go to bed. I hear
bad things are happening, but I really don't understand them."

In Cap-Haïtien, looting of homes, businesses and government buildings
continued Monday -- 24 hours after the Haitian National Revolutionary Front
took control of the former Aristide stronghold, facing little resistance.
Sunday's taking of Cap-Haïtien by only about 200 fighters was the most
significant victory since the uprising began on Feb. 5.

At least 17 were killed in Sunday's fighting, raising the toll to about 70
dead and dozens wounded in the revolt, The Associated Press reported. Rebels
now control almost one-half of Haiti, as central government officials and
pro-Aristide police -- who at 5,000 officers are outnumbered by rebels --
have abandoned their posts or retreated to Port-au-Prince.

While many stunned Cap-Haïtien residents looked on from their homes and
balconies, hundreds of cheering people accompanied rebel units as they
patrolled this port city of 500,000 Monday.

Rebel commander Louis-Jodel Chamblain said the patrols are aimed at
"pacifying" the city, but it was clear that the tours were also meant as a
show of force to government supporters. Rebels hunted down militants loyal
to Aristide, accusing them of terrorizing the population in the days before
the fall of the city. It was not clear what would happen to those detained.

One of those arrested was bricklayer Jean Bernard Prévalis, 33, whom
soldiers accused of being a chimère militant -- a member of one of the
pro-government gangs that have collectively, sometimes violently, squashed
opposition movements in many parts of Haiti.

"I'm not a chimère," said Prévalis as he sat, handcuffed, in the back of a
pickup, his head bleeding from where he said soldiers hit him. Prévalis'
hands were trembling, and he was surrounded by men holding pistols, rifles
and automatic weapons. Men under similar accusations were killed by angry
rebels in Gonaives, the day the front overtook that city Feb. 5.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in Cap-Haïtien demonstrated in favor of the
rebellion Monday, chanting: "Aristide, get out!" and "Goodbye, Aristide."
Looters stole about 800 tons of food -- including lentils, fish, oil and
sugar -- from the U.N. World Food Program warehouse, according to the
agency's Andrea Bagnoli. The colonial mansion of Mayor Wilmar Innocent, who
supports Aristide, was looted and then torched. Looters also ransacked the
airport and the port, where thousands of sacks of rice, dozens of cars and
other goods were stolen.

Rebel leader Guy Philippe said his men could do nothing to stop the looting.
He blamed Aristide's government for leaving most of Haiti's 8 million people
hungry and desperate.

Aid agencies have warned that a humanitarian catastrophe is brewing, with
268,000 people who depended on food aid in northern Haiti being the most
vulnerable. Monday, the International Red Cross sent a truck and two
specialists to Cap-Haïtien by airplane. The two specialists will bring
medical supplies and stay in the region, the Red Cross's Pedro Iseli said in
an interview.

Aristide's Premier Yvon Neptune said the international community must help
save Haiti from "terrorists that are sowing violence and death."

The United States made last-ditch efforts at finding a political solution.
As the opposition was on the brink of rejecting the plan on the grounds that
it did not call for Aristide to step down, Secretary of State Colin Powell
phoned opposition politicians and asked them to delay responding formally to
the plan for 24 hours.

Aristide on Saturday accepted the plan, which would allow him to remain
president with diminished powers, sharing with political rivals a government
that would organize elections.

Evans Paul, a leading opponent who once was allied with Aristide, said the
coalition agreed to the extra time and said it would "perhaps give Mr.
Powell a little more time to consider his position … and give us the
assurances we need" on Aristide's departure.

Aristide was wildly popular when he became Haiti's first freely elected
leader in 1990 but he has lost support since flawed legislative elections in
2000 led international donors to freeze millions of dollars in aid.
Opponents accuse the former priest of failing to help those in need in the
Western Hemisphere's poorest country, allowing corruption and masterminding
attacks on opponents by armed gangs. Aristide denies the charges.

Special Correspondent Jane Regan contributed to this report, which was
supplemented with i

Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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