22707: (Chamberlain) Two Haitian police killed, Aristide followers rally (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 15 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed two policemen
in Haiti's capital on Thursday in an attack authorities said was
politically motivated.
     The officers, Moise Jean-Robert and Lequel Taylor, were shot to death
when the unidentified gunmen fired at a group of police standing in the
street. Another officer was wounded and taken to a hospital in critical
condition.
     "We firmly believe the police are being targeted, because we have
noted a series of attacks against our policemen, several of them deadly,"
said Port-au-Prince Police Commissioner Harry Beauport.
     Haiti's interim government has struggled to rebuild the national
police since an armed rebellion that forced then-president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide into exile in February. The rebels easily overran Haiti's poorly
funded and poorly trained police.
     With rebel forces still in control of many areas of the country,
tensions between police and rebels have been rising in recent weeks.
     Rebel leaders have criticized government plans to disarm their
soldiers, a move that would leave Haitian police and United Nations
peacekeepers in charge of security in the country. The rebels, many of whom
are former members of the Haitian army disbanded by Aristide in the
mid-1990s, have demanded the creation of a new army.
     About 3,000 Aristide supporters, mostly from Bel-Air and other slums
in the capital, marched in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to call for
Aristide's return and to celebrate his 51st birthday.
     Aristide, who was accused by his opponents of corruption and human
rights abuses, fled Haiti on Feb. 29 in the face of the rebel uprising and
U.S. and French pressure to quit. He is now living in South Africa.
     Aristide supporters, singing "happy birthday," marched with empty
plates and spoons to show they are hungry.
     "If Aristide was here, we would be celebrating with him and eat with
him at the national palace on his birthday today," said Michele Sanon, a
resident of the Cite Soleil slum.