19739: (Craig) NYT: Rebels and Aristide Backers Exchange Gunfire in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>


Rebels and Aristide Backers Exchange Gunfire in Haiti
March 3, 2004
By LYDIA POLGREEN

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 3 - Gun battles broke out
today between rebels and supporters of the deposed
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, as Haiti continued to
grapple with the violence and lawlessness that has overrun
the country in the last month.

United States marines guarding the National Palace did not
interfere with nearby gun battles, in which police allied
with rebel soldiers exchanged fire with Aristide
supporters.

But the marines have intervened on the road to the airport,
to keep rebels from interfering with convoys of Aristide
backers who were trying to leave the country.

The rebel leader, Guy Philippe, said at a news conference
today that his group was prepared to turn their weapons
over to the interim president, Boniface Alexandre. But Mr.
Alexandre, who is chief justice of the Supreme Court, has
not been seen in public since a news conference on Sunday
when he announced he would take office.

The new president's authority was uncertain, too. The
constitution says his appointment requires ratification by
the Legislature, which was dissolved in January. The
constitution also provides for presidential authority to be
held by a council led by the prime minister.

On Tuesday, Mr. Philippe proclaimed "The country is in my
hands," as he met hundreds of supporters near the palace
that last held Mr. Aristide, the constitutionally elected
president. Mr. Aristide left Haiti early Sunday for the
Central African Republic after a shove from the United
States.

In the absence of any other authority, Haiti seemed to be
falling into the clutches of a self-appointed armed junta.
Despite the rebels' vow to restore order, violence
continued in the capital on Tuesday. Six bodies of people
killed by gunshot wounds were brought to the morgue,
bringing the total stored there from violence over the past
week to about 25.

Although American officials denounced the armed rebels and
said they should have no role in ruling Haiti, the
Americans did not take steps to confront them.

Col. David H. Berger, the Marine Corps commander here, said
his troops would not act as police officers. "I have no
instructions to disarm the rebels," he said.

The contingent of marines dispatched to Haiti by President
Bush grew to 450 Tuesday, officials said. They stuck mostly
to the airport and the National Palace. Several guarded
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune's residence. About 100 French
and Canadian troops have also arrived.

The rebels' power grab was met with silence or muted
support by members of the political opposition to the
Aristide government; inaction from United Nations
diplomats, who have promised to form a multinational
peacekeeping force for Haiti; and contempt from Washington,
where officials dismissed Mr. Philippe as a nonentity.

"He is not in control of anything but a ragtag band," an
assistant secretary of state, Roger Noriega, told the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But no one else appeared to be in charge. The armed rebels
reigned in Port-au-Prince, having seized government
installations on Monday, and vowed to resurrect the army.

Mr. Neptune, the prime minister, whom Mr. Philippe
threatened to arrest, met Tuesday with the American
ambassador, James B. Foley, the White House said.

Mr. Philippe paraded through the streets like a conqueror.
His men scoured the slums, which formed Mr. Aristide's
strongest political base, seeking out Aristide loyalists.

The rebels sought to fill the vacuum left by Mr. Aristide's
fall, and were moving faster than what remains of the
government of Haiti.

"It is an absolutely failed state - no institutions, no
rule of law, no spirit of compromise, no security," said
Robert Pastor, director of the Center for Democracy and
Election Management at American University. Mr. Pastor has
monitored elections here since 1987.

Complicating the political chaos, Jean-Claude Duvalier,
Haiti's former "president for life," said in Miami that he
planned to return to Haiti, where he maintains a small
group of nostalgic supporters.

His rule began when his father, Fran?ois, the dictator
known as Papa Doc, died in 1971, and it ended when the army
overthrew him in 1986. During the three-decade Duvalier
dynasty, the government killed thousands of opponents and
stole many millions from Haiti's treasury.

The Haitian Army, which earned a reputation for brutality
and corruption, overthrew Mr. Aristide in 1991. He
returned, backed by American force, in 1994, and dissolved
the army in 1995.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/03/international/americas/03CND-HAIT.html?ex=1079346877&ei=1&en=4359cc8fc3ed22b4
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company