19940: (Chamberlain) AP: Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   GONAIVES, March 6 (AP) -- Before a raging fire, rebel fighters in this
bleak western town offered metal scraps Saturday to a voodoo war god,
portending still more violence for Haiti.
   Though rebel leader Guy Philippe has pledged his fighters will disarm,
many insist they will not give up their weapons until militant supporters
of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide do the same.
   Rebels who choose not to show their weapons in public openly admit they
have stashed them for later use. And the Gonaives ceremony to the spirit of
Ogun Feray -- the war god -- indicates Haiti's bloody uprising -- which
started here Feb. 5 and has killed at least 130 people -- might not be
over.
   "In terms of where the guns are and who we will surrender them to,
that's a secret," said local rebel commander Winter Etienne, 40. "When you
lay down your arms you always want to have them someplace where you can
pick them up again if you need them."
   The challenge of disarmament is just one of many stumbling blocks facing
the impoverished and violence wrecked Caribbean nation after the rebellion
forced Aristide to flee a week ago.
   On Saturday in Port-au-Prince, a recently appointed council began
meeting to choose a new prime minister. Opposition leaders have been
pressing for the replacement of Yvon Neptune, who stayed in his post even
after Aristide fled the country.
   Leslie Voltaire, a minister in Aristide's government and a member of the
tripartite commission that chose the council, said he was satisfied with
the group's neutrality and independence.
   "They will meet today, they will meet Sunday, and by Monday we will have
a new prime minister," Voltaire said.
   In another development, U.S. Marines patrolling the capital withdrew
most of their heavier guard from around the presidential National Palace
and the prime minister's office Saturday, after it became clear that the
overwhelming show of force had become a sore point with Haitians.
   "We've just basically pulled them back, trying to provide less of a
military presence in the areas and allow people to get back to their daily
lives, without us hanging over them," said Staff Sgt. Timothy Edwards. "We
don't want to appear like an occupation force."
   Since independence from colonizer France, Haiti has suffered under
civilian and military dictators. Aristide was the first freely elected
leader, a wildly popular slum priest who rose to president in 1990 on fiery
rhetoric and vows to help the poor.
   His support diminished markedly after his 2000 re-election and charges
he failed to improve Haitians miserable lives, condoned corruption and used
police and armed supporters to attack political opponents.
   The armed groups in Gonaives, the birthplace of Haiti's 1804
independence, say they won one battle by removing Aristide, but they say
another battle is on the horizon.
   Until a new government and electoral commission is formed -- and their
pro-Aristide enemies forcibly disarmed -- they have no plans to surrender
their weapons.
   "I plan to die with my pistol on my chest," says Wilfort Ferdinand, 27,
the town's defacto police chief, who wears a mock sheriff's badge.
   In the last year, Gonaives fighters mounted a significant challenge to
Aristide's government after the gun slaying of one of their hometown heroes
-- a street gang leader once loyal to Aristide. Now, the city could pose
similar problems for police and international peacekeepers hoping to get
militant groups to hand in their guns.
   U.S.-led troops surveyed the area Friday, prompting rebels to hide their
weapons and triggering a flurry of discussion over whether the newcomers
should be trusted.
   "If the Americans come in here and try to take away our guns, it's not
going to be as easy as they think," says Billy Auguste, 23, a
Haitian-American wearing an American flag bandanna to hide his face. "They
should remember that the population is still with us."
   When the uprising began a month ago, rebels in Gonaives proudly
displayed shotguns and pistols and erected massive barricades of shipping
containers and car chassis to block police and Aristide militants from
entering the city.
   Today, the barricades are mostly gone but residents are struggling to
resume normal life. Schools are to open Monday after being closed since
September, but the city is dark at night because the electric company was
hired by Aristide's government.
   What's left of the police station -- rebels burned it weeks ago -- has
been picked over by scavengers, prying metal beams apart for scraps to sell
for a few pennies.
   There are no doctors at the local hospital.
   "There are still gunmen who are coming here to rob patients," said
Jean-Witsmer Fils-Aimee, a hospital administrator. "People are afraid to
come here, and the hospital can't function because we have no supplies and
no electricity."
------
   Associated Press reporter Ian James contributed to this report from
Port-au-Prince.