21964: (Chamberlain) Ex-rebel leader slams "French occupation" of Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

GONAIVES, May 19 (AFP): Haitian rebel-turned-opposition leader Buteur
Metayer on Tuesday lashed out at the French troops which form the largest
contingent in the multinational force deployed to this Caribbean nation.

"Down with the French occupation, down with France, the whites must leave.
Down with the French whites," Metayer called out to a crowd of 1,200 people
in this northwestern town.

The crowd did not pick up his chant of "Down with France."

Metayer spoke at a ceremony marking the transformation of his group of
former rebels into a political party, the National Reconstruction Front.
His rebel group had seized control of Gonaives during the rebellion that
ended with president Jean-Bertrand Aristide fleeing the country on February
29.

"The French whites are humiliating us. They search our homes and our cars,"
he said.

Guy Philippe, secretary general of the new political party, slammed what he
called "the return of white colonists to the country to defend the small
group of oligarchs."

"Two hundred years after independence, we are under occupation," he said.

The UN-led multilateral force was set up here after Aristide renounced the
presidency and fled the country amid escalating violence and bloodshed.

France's relations with Haiti, tense under Aristide, have warmed in recent
months. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier made a 24-hour official
visit to Haiti at the weekend, in which he promised cash, reconstruction
aid and goodwill.