19100: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   CAP-HAITIEN, Feb 24 (AP) -- Haiti's rebel leader told The Associated
Press on Tuesday he did not want to install a military dictatorship but is
seeking to re-establish the army that was disbanded after ousting President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991.
   With the rebels threatening to attack the capital of Port-au-Prince, the
United States tried to broker a last-ditch peace plan that did not require
Aristide to resign. Opposition politicians were weighing the plan, after
being persuaded by Secretary of State Colin Powell to delay their formal
response to 5 p.m. Tuesday.
   Rebel leader Guy Philippe, still in the second-largest city of
Cap-Haitien that was seized Sunday, said in an interview with the AP that
his movement wants to re-establish the army but is not interested in
installing another dictatorship in Haiti.
   A military dictatorship is "not good for the country," said Philippe,
formerly Aristide's assistant police chief for northern Haiti. "The
military should stay in the barracks."
   Even if the opposition coalition accepts the U.S. peace plan, the rebels
insist they will lay down their arms only when Aristide is out of power.
   Asked if he was in contact with opposition politicians, Philippe smiled
and said "not officially." He refused to elaborate.
   Opposition leaders disputed that.
   "We refuse to have contacts with the rebels, as well as with Aristide,"
said Mischa Gaillard, a spokesman for the opposition coalition. "We don't
want to be tainted with any suspicion of condoning violence."
   The opposition has said they are a nonviolent movement that supports the
rebel goal of getting Aristide to step down. Aristide maintains that
opposition factions are supporting the rebellion and the rebels are an
armed wing of the political opposition.
   Premier Yvon Neptune appealed to the political opposition coalition to
agree to the peace plan, which Aristide has accepted. The plan would allow
him to remain president with diminished powers, sharing with political
rivals a government that would organize elections.
   Philippe said he was on his way to a Western Union office to pick up
donations being sent by Haitians in the United States and Canada. He said
his rebellion also was being funded by businessmen in Haiti.
   An attack on Port-au-Prince was unlikely Tuesday, as Philippe said his
fighters had spent the night searching in vain for government forces.
   French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday his country is ready to
consider contributing to any eventual peacekeeping force approved by the
United Nations.
   "France does not exclude contributing to a civilian force for peace," he
said, adding however that such a deployment "depends on a decision of the
Security Council."
   In Port-au-Prince on Monday, about 50 Marines in full battle gear rushed
off a U.S. Air Force transport plane and secured a perimeter around the
international airport. Some Haitians stood on cars or high walls to peer at
them.
   The Marines then drove to the U.S. Embassy in a convoy of trucks and
cars. Western diplomats and a Defense Department official said their
mission was to protect the U.S. Embassy and staff.
   Ten years ago, the United States sent 20,000 troops to end a military
dictatorship that had ousted Aristide in 1991, a year after he became
Haiti's first freely elected leader. But Washington has made clear it won't
commit a large number of troops this time.
   Aristide, hugely popular when he was elected especially among the
destitute in the Western hemisphere's poorest country, has since lost a lot
of support. Opponents accuse the former priest of failing to help those in
need, condoning corruption and masterminding attacks on opponents by armed
gangs. Aristide denies the charges. Flawed legislative elections in 2000
led international donors to freeze millions of dollars in aid.
   Evans Paul, a leading opponent once allied with Aristide, told the AP
the international community was hinting it would call for Aristide's
resignation if he failed to respect the terms of the peace plan, which
calls for him to share power.
   Aristide's supporters, fearing the rebels would move on the capital
after taking Cap-Haitien, set flaming barricades to block a key road
outside Port-au-Prince.
   "We are ready to resist, with anything we have -- rocks, machetes," said
a teacher guarding one roadblock, who gave his name only as Rincher.
   Rebels in Cap-Haitien, meanwhile, hunted down militants loyal to
Aristide on Monday, accusing them of terrorizing the population in the days
before the city fell.
   "I am a brick mason, I didn't do anything wrong," Jean-Bernard Prevalis,
33, pleaded as he was dragged away, head bleeding.
   "We're going to clean the city of all 'chimeres,'" said rebel Dieusauver
Magustin, 26. Chimere, which means ghost, is used to describe hardcore
Aristide militants.
   It was not clear what would happen to those detained. One rebel said
they were saving them from lynching. But another, Claudy Philippe, said
"The people show us the (chimere) houses. If they are there, we execute
them."
   Thousands of people demonstrated in favor of the rebellion, chanting
"Aristide get out!" and "Goodbye Aristide."
   Looting continued in the city Monday, although some rebels tried to
scare off looters with warning shots. The 800 tons of food in the U.N.
World Food Program warehouse was plundered, according to the agency's
Andrea Bagnoli, and people torched the home of pro-Aristide Mayor Wilmar
Innocent.
   Cap-Haitien is just 90 miles north of Port-au-Prince, but is a
seven-hour drive over potholed roads sometimes reduced to bedrock.
   More than half of Haiti now is beyond the control of the central
government. The takeover of Cap-Haitien by about 200 fighters was the most
significant victory since the uprising erupted Feb. 5. At least 17 were
killed in Sunday's fighting, raising the toll to about 70 dead and dozens
wounded in the revolt.
   ------
   Associated Press reporters Michael Norton and Mark Stevenson contributed
to this story from Port-au-Prince.