23383: (Chamberlain) Haiti flood toll rises (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   GONAIVES, Oct 4 (AP) -- The toll of dead and missing people from floods
unleashed by Tropical Storm Jeanne was well above 2,000, officials said
Monday while aid workers planned more distributions of food to thousands of
hungry and homeless survivors.
   Officials were still trying to sort through tolls of bodies to determine
the number of dead.
   Late Sunday, civil protection agency spokesman Dieufort Deslorges said
hundreds more bodies had been found, raising the death toll from 1,550 to
1,970. But Monday morning, he said an error was made in counting and it
appeared the most accurate tally was about 300 lower.
   Officials were still working on a firm number, he said.
   "Some bodies were counted twice," Deslorges said. "There has been an
increase in the death toll, however, and we will make the correction this
morning."
   The number of missing remained the same -- about 900. They are presumed
dead -- washed out to sea or buried in debris.
   In Gonaives and surrounding areas, 1,557 bodies have been recovered and
another 825 were missing and presumed dead, said Carl Murat Cantave, the
city's civil protection agency chief.
   At least 233 other people in the Gonaives area died from flood-related
sicknesses or injuries, Cantave said. Figures for other parts of the
country were not immediately available.
   An estimated 300,000 Haitians were left homeless, most in Gonaives, by
the floods more than two weeks ago.
   On Sunday, residents brought two emaciated men found semiconscious on
the ground to a clinic run by Argentine U.N. peacekeepers. Doctors said it
appeared the two had not eaten in several days and had psychological trauma
-- one because he lost relatives in the floods.
   The otherman, 40-year-old Jacques Agelus Faustin, was found collapsed
under a mango tree.
   "We all thought he was dead," said Soupon Jean-Paul, a friend who found
him. "I wasn't even looking for him at the time."
   U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson stopped at the
peacekeepers' clinic Sunday during a visit to Gonaives.
   "There's no question we have to figure out how to rebuild Gonaives,"
Thompson said, adding that the effort also would create jobs.
   Last week, President Bush asked Congress for $50 million for storm-hit
Caribbean countries, about half planned for Haiti.
   Before leaving, Thompson met interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and
announced a donation of $235,000 worth of antibiotics, syringes, latex
gloves and other medical supplies to restock Gonaives' hospital.
   In the capital of Port-au-Prince, where political clashes left at least
14 people dead last week, residents said police fired into the air early
Monday near the Bel-Air slum, a stronghold of ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Police also removed wooden barricades apparently placed nearby by
Aristide supporters. Heavy traffic returned to Port-au-Prince, though many
street vendors stayed home.
   U.N. peacekeepers, apparently anticipating more demonstrations, parked
four armored vehicles outside the National Palace -- an action not seen in
recent days.
   On Saturday, police arrested Haiti's Senate president and two other
pro-Aristide politicians following a six-hour standoff in a radio station.
   Latortue said the three were arrested on suspicion of orchestrating
violence that erupted Thursday during protests demanding Aristide's return.
Four policemen were killed, including three who were beheaded after being
shot to death.
   The politicians maintain their innocence. Latortue said one, former Sen.
Gerard Gilles, would be freed after investigators determined he was not
involved.
   Latortue said the police killings were part of a new offensive by
pro-Aristide gangs dubbed "Operation Baghdad."
   "You've heard about Baghdad in the media. Every time they catch a
Westerner they cut off his head," Latortue said.
   He added that was seeing "a climate of terror" resembling "the four
months preceding Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure."
   Pro-Aristide groups criticized the arrests at Radio Caraibes as
political persecution, and said police and gangsters have shot at Aristide
supporters, killing several people.
   Latortue denied any wrongdoing by authorities, saying the government is
dedicated to respecting human rights and "life of all Haitians."
   Aristide, now in exile in South Africa, has accused U.S. agents of
ousting him Feb. 29 amid a bloody rebellion -- a charge the U.S. government
denies.
   Aristide's Lavalas Family party on Saturday concluded three days of
commemoration of the 1991 coup that toppled Aristide's first government.
They demanded an end to "the occupation" and "the invasion" by foreign
troops -- referring to the U.S.-led force that followed Aristide's ouster
and the U.N. peacekeepers who have taken over since June.
   ------
   Associated Press reporter Stevenson Jacobs in Port-au-Prince contributed
to this report.