23117: (Chamberlain) Haitian police and U.N. troops take back town (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Sept 7 (Reuters)- Haitian police, backed by
U.N. troops in armored cars, raided the city of Saint-Marc and regained
control on Tuesday, a day after rebels took over the town north of the
capital.
     U.N troops and Haitian police now patrol the streets of Saint-Marc, 60
miles (100 km) north of Port-au-Prince. No casualties were reported, but
residents said they heard a lot of gunshots.
     Authorities ordered the national police on Monday to regain control of
several towns held by rebel former soldiers who want to reestablish Haiti's
army.
     Police carried out the raid with an Argentine contingent of the U.N.
peacekeeping force sent to stabilize Haiti after the rebels drove out
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February.
     "We have received instructions from our superiors to regain control of
our police stations arbitrarily occupied by ex-military," Police Inspector
Bruce Myrthil told Reuters.
     On Sunday, police backed by U.N. troops drove out a group of former
soldiers who occupied a police station in the city of Thomazeau, near the
capital.
     But the rebels held several cities and were a dominant force in
numerous small towns deserted by police in February. They vowed defiance of
an interim government they view as traitors.
     "We'll fight to the last man. We'd rather die in combat instead of
dying on our knees," rebel leader Remissainthe Ravix told Reuters. "They
(government authorities) came to power thanks to our weapons they now
declare illegal. If they think they can deny us our rights, they will know
the same fate as Aristide."
     He condemned the raid in Saint-Marc and promised to retaliate.
     "The fact that we left Saint-Marc does not mean that we gave up. We'll
teach a lesson to those who want to destroy the military," said Ravix, who
has demanded that the government pay former soldiers 10 years worth of back
wages.
     Aristide was overthrown in a military coup during his first term in
1991 and disbanded the army when he returned from exile three years later.
He began a second term in 2001 and fled the country in February amid an
armed rebellion and U.S. and French pressure to quit. He is exiled in South
Africa.
     Interim president Boniface Alexandre has said his administration would
not give in to pressure from the rebels. Despite the presence of a nearly
3,000-strong, Brazilian-led U.N. force, the rebels and other armed gangs
have been calling the shots in many areas and order has proved elusive.
     Gunfights in the slum of Cite Soleil killed seven people on Tuesday
and six on Saturday, witnesses said.