22812: (Chamberlain) Haitian ex-soldiers threaten new revolt over pay (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 29 (Reuters) - Soldiers from Haiti's
disbanded army who helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February
threatened on Thursday to do the same to the new government unless it gave
them 10 years of back pay.
     "If ... the government does not pay us that money, we'll launch
against it the same movement we launched against Aristide," said Rony
Bernard, a spokesman for former soldiers in the southern city of Les Cayes.
     Setting an Aug. 10 deadline for the payment, he said the interim
government had assured the soldiers the army would be reinstituted but had
not kept its word.
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest who was a hero to Haiti's
poor masses, was sent into exile on Feb. 29 by a bloody rebellion in which
more than 200 people were killed.
     Many of the rebels were former members of Haiti's dreaded army, which
Aristide disbanded in the mid-1990s. The soldiers demanded that a new
Haitian government re-form the army, saying its dismantling violated the
constitution.
     "We want to send a clear message to the government that when we speak,
we act," Jean Francklin, a spokesman for former soldiers in the northern
city of Cap-Haitien, told Radio Solidarity on Thursday.
     Francklin said ex-soldiers throughout the country stood behind the
demands.
     Government officials were not available for comment on Thursday.
     Haiti's interim government, led by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, has
said measures will be taken after Sept. 15 to disarm gangs and other groups
that possess illegal weapons. The rebels still control large areas of the
poor Caribbean country.
     Some former rebel leaders, including Remissainthe Ravix and Guy
Philippe, have threatened recently to take up weapons again if the
government tries to disarm them.
     The ex-rebels contend Haitian authorities have no right to confiscate
their weapons because the arms played a vital role in Aristide's ouster and
the formation of Latortue's government.
     "If our weapons are illegal, the government is also illegal," said
Joseph Jean-Baptiste, a spokesman for rebels in the Central Plateau.
     The rebel leaders said they have more than 2,000 former soldiers under
their control. Haiti's army had about 7,000 troops when it was disbanded.