19654: Lemieux: BBC: Haiti rebels met with adulation (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

 Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2004/03/02 11:32:19 GMT

Haiti rebels met with adulation
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC correspondent in Port-au-Prince

Haiti's rebel leader Guy Philippe arrived in Port-au-Prince
in a convoy of jeeps and with absolutely no resistance at
all.


In fact he was met with quite a lot of adulation from the
Haitian people, some of whom had been hiding in their
houses for some time.
They took the opportunity to come out and followed him in a
sort of victory parade through the capital to the
presidential palace where, by then, there were a few
thousand people.

They were very much looking forward to a new future,
shouting things like "Liberty!" and certainly believing
that Mr Philippe - it seemed - was their new leader.

There are not very many safe places in this city at the
moment, and one of the main objectives for the
international force here has been to make sure that the
airport is safe.

We did see about 10 US Marines outside the presidential
palace. But apart from that, they certainly have not been
seen on the streets.

Rebels in control

There does seem to have been a pretty major transfer of
power away from the pro-Aristide gangs that were roaming
the streets only 24 hours ago.


MULTINATIONAL FORCE
US marines
Canadian special forces
French troops
French police
More countries expected to join later
Now it seems that the rebels are very much in control. And
also we have been seeing the police come back.

They have been pretty quiet until very recently. When the
rebels came in so did the police, and there was some
back-slapping between the police and the rebels.

One has to bear in mind that Mr Philippe used to be one of
Mr Aristide's police chiefs before he had a change of heart
and led this rebellion against the president.

Aristide 'kidnapped'

In the meantime, President Aristide has been making his
accusations against the Americans, saying they kicked him
out.


Mr Aristide is in the Central African Republic, where he is
claiming that he was virtually kidnapped and forced out by
the Americans.

There were rumours along those lines very shortly after he
left; that he was forced to sign a document of resignation,
bundled up the steps of an aircraft by US marines and the
airplane door was shut behind him, and that was it.

The fear here is that this will raise the hackles of the
pro-Aristide gangs. We are not seeing them on the streets
but they cannot have disappeared completely.

The feeling here is that the longer the international
troops do not show any sign of being here, the more chance
that the rebels will have to impose their order on this
city and the less chance that they will want to give up
that power.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3525035.stm

Published: 2004/03/02 11:32:19 GMT

© BBC MMIV


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