20629: (Chamberlain) Latortue praises rebels (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   GONAIVES, March 20 (AP) -- Sharing a platform with rebel leaders,
Haiti's interim leader Saturday praised the gunmen who began the uprising
that chased Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power and even paid tribute to an
assassinated gangster.
   About 3,000 people cheered and clapped for Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue, who held his first rally in his hometown of Gonaives, where
Haiti's independence was declared 200 years ago and starting point for its
recent rebellion.
   "I ask you for a moment of silence for all the people who fell fighting
against the dictatorship, and especially for Amiot Metayer," Latortue said
as the crowd went wild. Matayer was the leader of the Cannibal Army street
gang, and his death sparked the rebellion.
   Rebel leaders who still run Haiti's fourth-largest city sat on a
platform alongside Latortue, Organization of American States representative
David Lee, recently installed interim Cabinet ministers Bernard Gousse and
retired Gen. Herard Abraham, and new Haitian police chief Leon Charles.
   Rebel leader Winter Etienne, self-declared mayor of Gonaives, welcomed
Latortue and told the crowd his fighters would surrender their weapons when
a police presence is restored to the city, which had about 250,000 people
before the uprising erupted Feb. 5.
   Latortue paid tribute to Metayer and those killed in the fighting to
oust President Aristide. More than 300 people died -- dozens of them police
who failed to overcome the rebels.
   Metayer's Cannibal Army gang ran the docks at Gonaives and was said to
control drug-trafficking through the port. The gang also was believed to
have been armed by Aristide to terrorize his opponents.
   Aristide finally had Metayer arrested last year after months of pressure
from the OAS, which demanded he be tried for allegedly burning homes of
opponents. Gang members rammed a tractor into the prison to free him in
September, and Metayer's bullet-riddled and mutilated body was found days
later.
   "They took out his eyes. They took out his heart," Latortue said of
Metayer.
   Metayer's brother, Butteur, assumed leadership of the gang; he claimed
Aristide ordered his brother's killing to keep him from publicizing
damaging information about him.
   With his death prompting the uprising that brought about Aristide's
downfall, Metayer has become a hero in the town. Many feared him. Others
saw him as a Robin Hood who lavished gifts on slum-dwelling Aristide
supporters.
   Thousands of them have fled the city since the Feb. 5 gunbattle in which
Metayer's men killed several police officers and torched government
buildings.
   Lee said Latortue's visit symbolized "a return of authority." But
Charles acknowledged the city would continue to be run by rebels until a
police presence is re-established.
   About 150 French Legionnaires rolled into Gonaives on Friday. On
Saturday they remained behind the walls of the State University,, where
they set up camp. Another 200 French troops went to Cap-Haitien, the
rebel-held northern port of 500,000 that is Haiti's second largest city.
   In Gonaives, rebels swapped their looted police gear for civilian
clothes when the French arrived, and stopped strutting around town with
assault rifles.
   The French mission is to allow relief organizations to deliver food and
medicines disrupted by the rebellion.
   On Saturday, as the visitors were enjoying a buffet lunch, Butteur
Metayer arrived in a looted police all-terrain vehicle and laid down a
dozen rusty weapons wrapped in a Haitian flag -- two machine guns but
mainly World War II-era M-1 assault rifles and shotguns.
   "We are not handing them over because we are scared. But we were
fighting against Aristide and not against the Republic of Haiti," Metayer
said.
   Later, he told The Associated Press the rebellion could return.
   "Our plan is to keep working with the government, (but) if the
government cannot work with us, we will overthrow it," he said.
   Latortue acknowledged the weapons handover was "just a symbolic
gesture."
   "Obviously we have weapons spread throughout the country, and many
people still believe they can't give (up) all of their weapons," he told
the AP. "But the symbolism of what happened today is very important."
   Lee, asked how he felt about the praise for Amiot Metayer, said, "We're
trying to encourage reconciliation.
   "Of course we don't agree that violence should be rewarded, but I think
what we see here today is an effort put forth by the citizens of Gonaives
to turn over a new leaf."
   At the rally earlier, Latortue promised a better life, saying his
government would ensure clean drinking water in Gonaives, provide medical
equipment and build at least 100 homes and a four-lane highway to replace
the potholed two lanes that are Haiti's main south-north highway.
   People shouted they also needed working telephones and electricity.
   Latortue urged patience: "I cannot give you everything at once and I
will not lie to you."