21999: Justin: Haitian soldiers refuse to leave police station (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Justin <justins@alacrityisp.net>

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti_Eight former Haitian soldiers detained for illegal
weapons possession vowed Thursday to remain at a police station until their
confiscated arms are returned to them.


Rebel commander Joseph Jean-Baptiste, who helped launch the revolt that
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide nearly three months ago, is among
the eight remaining at a police station in Port-au-Prince.


"I’ll stay here as long as it takes," Jean-Baptiste said. "I will wait for
my arms to be given back."


The eight men, all from Haiti’s Central Plateau, were detained in the
capital Tuesday, the birthday of the Caribbean nation’s flag. They had
gathered for a ceremony in camouflage uniforms, bearing eight assault rifles
and three pistols, Justice Minister Bernard Gousse said.


Festivities were marred by violence when riot police fired tear gas and
warning shots to disperse demonstrators calling for Aristide’s return. At
least one man was killed.


Citizens are not allowed to carry assault weapons and the pistols carried by
those in custody were not licensed, Gousse said. He said the police gave the
men the option of licensing the pistols but they refused.


Authorities told the men that they were free to leave without their guns
under the government’s disarmament plan, the justice minister said.


Jean-Baptiste, however, said the current government would not be in power
were it not for the rebels’ arms.


"The director general of the police said we have no right to carry those
arms, but it was those arms that put the director general in power," he
said.


Aristide disbanded the Haitian army after he was first ousted in a 1991 coup
and many former soldiers participated in the most recent uprising.


The former president claims he was forced to leave his homeland Feb. 29 by
the United States, a claim that U.S. officials deny. When Aristide fled
Haiti, he flew to the Central African Republic but left two weeks later to
spend time with his wife and two daughters in Jamaica.


He is expected to arrive this week in South Africa, which has offered
temporary asylum.