23097: (Craig) NYT: Haiti Won't Yield to Rebel Demands, President Says (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <sak-pase@bimini.ws>


Haiti Won't Yield to Rebel Demands, President Says
September 2, 2004
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:58 p.m. ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Haitian President
Boniface Alexandre said on Thursday his administration
would not give in to rebels who took over a southern town
six days ago to back demands for the reestablishment of the
army.

"The government is going to do everything necessary to
regain control of positions taken by the former military,"
Alexandre told a news conference shortly after he arrived
from Panama, where he attended the inauguration of
President Martin Torrijos.

"Haiti does not have two security forces. We won't accept
it, and we will never accept it," he said. The military
was disbanded in 1995 by then-President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.

Former soldiers, who helped overthrow Aristide in February,
say the government owes them more than 10 years of back
pay, which Haitian authorities deny.

"We are very firm on this issue. The interim government
won't reform the army. It is a question for the next
government to decide, and we don't owe the ex-military any
salary," said Alexandre. He promised the government would
make pension funds available to the former soldiers.

Alexandre called on former military members to renounce
violence and negotiate with the government. "We favor
dialogue, but if dialogue fails to solve the problem, we
won't yield."

The members of the defunct army attacked a police station
on Saturday in Petit-Goave, about 40 miles south of the
capital, chased police officers from the city and
proclaimed themselves in charge of security.

Former military members clashed on Thursday with police in
another town, bordering on Petit-Goave, where police
arrested four former soldiers. In retaliation, the
ex-soldiers seized 10 police officers. Both sides made
peace after they agreed to exchange prisoners.

Earlier on Thursday, the Brazilian-led United Nations
peacekeeping force in Haiti said it did not have enough
troops to deal with a renewed conflict.

"The U.N. should, at this moment, have more than 6,000 men
for the full restoration of security. Only about 2,500 have
arrived. This gap needs to be filled by somebody," said
Col. Luiz Felipe Carbonell, spokesman for the Brazilian
contingent.

The ex-soldiers moved on towns where there were no U.N.
troops and not enough police, Carbonell told Reuters in Sao
Paulo by telephone from Haiti.

"Any movement by the rebel groups could cause friction.
But our force is here to bring peace. We cannot take an
initiative for action. We can only act in self-defense."

A U.S.-led multinational force deployed in Haiti in the
days after Aristide's overthrow, and Brazil assumed command
of the U.N. force in June.

The U.N. has authorized a force of 6,700 troops. A total of
5,000 soldiers from several nations should be in place by
the end of October, Brazil's U.N. ambassador, Ronaldo
Sardenberg, said in New York last week.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says it is Brazil's
responsibility as a regional power to help restore peace to
Haiti.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-haiti-rebels.html?ex=1095176185&ei=1&en=2ffea6d982d8be4e
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company