19309: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 27 (AP) -- Rebels who have launched a bloody
uprising took control of another town Friday, closing in on the capital as
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed for foreign peacekeepers and the
country lurched toward chaos.
   As Aristide's government appeared to be losing the confidence of the
United States as well as France, the rebels drove police out and freed
about 67 prisoners in Mireblais, about 25 miles southeast of
Port-au-Prince, witnesses said. It was unclear whether the rebels were
still in the town or were pushing toward the capital.
   Haiti's third-largest city, Les Cayes, fell Thursday and is now in the
control of the Base Resistance, an anti-government group allied with
Haiti's opposition Democratic Platform but not tied to the rebels.
   French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin was holding talks Friday
in Paris with leaders of Haiti's government on how to end the crisis.
   De Villepin, who has called for Aristide's resignation and an
international civilian force to back up an interim government, was meeting
at the French Foreign Ministry with a delegation led by Haitian Foreign
Minister Joseph Antonio.
   Aristide supporters, meanwhile, gathered outside the National Palace
Friday morning to protect Haiti's embattled leader. Teenagers used
bulldozers and forklifts to build barricades of wrecked cars, telephone
poles, chairs, garbage and burning tires.
   In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell questioned whether
Aristide could continue to rule and came close to telling Aristide he
should bow out before his term expires in February 2006.
   "Whether or not he is able to effectively continue as president is
something he will have to examine carefully in the interests of the Haitian
people," Powell said Thursday.
   Haiti's rebellion erupted Feb. 5 in western Gonaives, the fourth-largest
city, and on Sunday the second largest, the northern port of Cap-Haitien,
fell with little resistance.
   Rebel leader Guy Philippe, speaking to an Associated Press reporter in
Cap-Haitien on Thursday, said his forces were already converging on
Port-au-Prince and would attack if Aristide did not resign.
   "We're just going to take our positions and wait for the right time (to
attack)," said Philippe, a former officer in the disbanded army who was
Aristide's assistant police chief for northern Haiti. "They're awaiting the
order."
   About 80 people, half of them police officers, have been killed in the
rebellion, which was launched by a street gang in Gonaives that says it was
armed by Aristide to terrorize opponents.
   Aristide told CNN he wouldn't resign. He also said it wouldn't take much
international aid to crush the insurgency, one of whose commanders is
former death squad leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain.
   "From my point of view, if we have a couple of dozen of international
soldiers, police, together right now, it could be enough to send a positive
signal to those terrorists," Aristide said. "Once they realize the
international community refuses (to allow) the terrorists to keep killing
people, we can prevent them to kill more people."
   Jamaica's Foreign Minister K.D. Knight, speaking for the 15-nation
Caribbean Community that includes Haiti, appealed Thursday to the U.N.
Security Council for immediate assistance.
   But Powell and his counterparts from France and Canada said Haiti's
government and opposition politicians must reach a political agreement
before any peacekeepers go.
   Haiti's crisis has brewed since Aristide's party swept flawed
legislative elections in 2000 and international donors froze millions of
dollars in aid.
   Aristide has agreed to a U.S.-backed plan that requires him to share
power with his opponents. But the opposition rejected the proposal and
insists that the president resign.
   The Rev. Jesse Jackson, visiting Libya, urged the United States to
protect Aristide.
   "Unless something happens immediately, the president could be killed,"
Jackson said. "We must not allow that to happen to that democracy. We must
give the best troops to Haiti to protect the president's compound."
   Many foreigners and Haitians have fled the country.
   Americans with M-16s guarded a convoy of U.N. workers and their families
on the way to Port-au-Prince's airport Thursday, passing barricades of
wrecked cars, rocks and tires built by Aristide supporters.
   Military helicopters of the Dominican Republic, which shares the island
of Hispaniola with Haiti, ferried people from the Dominican Embassy to the
airport, which was packed, mostly with Haitian-Americans trying to return
to the United States.
   Brazil dispatched Marines to evacuate South American citizens and
protect its embassy. The United States and Canada have also sent troops to
evacuate citizens and guard embassy property.
   "Anyone is going to want to save his own skin. It's a state of fear,"
said a 34-year-old Haitian who lives in New York and didn't want to give
his name.
   American Airlines also canceled flights between Haiti and the United
States until March 3.
   Businesses were shuttered, long lines formed at the few open banks and
gas stations, and streets were mostly devoid of people.
   Aristide, a former priest of Haiti's slums who in 1990 became Haiti's
first freely elected leader, has lost popularity amid accusations he
condoned corruption, failed to help the poor and had thugs attack political
opponents.
   Haitians were fleeing their country in boats. The U.S. Coast Guard
intercepted a dozen small boats carrying 546 Haitians near the Haitian
coast this week, spokesman Luis Diaz said.
   "It doesn't appear to be a mass exodus," he added.