23415: Holmstead: USA Today- October 13th (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: John Holmstead <cyberkismet5@yahoo.com>


Armed ex-soldiers plan to stop Haiti violence
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Former soldiers who ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a revolt said
Wednesday that reinforcements are advancing on Haiti's
capital to stop violence that has killed at least 46
people.

The reported movement of these forces threatens
conflict with armed Aristide loyalists who remain in
Port-Au-Prince and United Nations peacekeepers
deployed after Aristide was ousted in February.

The country already has been roiled by two weeks of
gunbattles and beheadings. The new conflict broke out
after Tropical Storm Jeanne devastated the island,
leaving up to 3,000 people dead.

In the storm-ravaged city of Gonaives, in northwest
Haiti, Red Cross officers suspended operations after a
French Red Cross truck was held up at gunpoint Tuesday
and looted of cooking and hygiene supplies, said the
society's Haiti mission director, Marie-Helene Meaux.
She said Red Cross workers from several countries had
stopped work in the city.

Wednesday in Petionville, a hillside suburb
overlooking Port-au-Prince, more than 30 men in
military fatigues gathered at an apartment building
used as a base. Former major Remissainthe Ravix told
the Associated Press that other former soldiers were
coming from more than two dozen bases across the
country.

The former soldiers' core force is estimated at 200.

Port-au-Prince has been plagued by unrest since
Aristide supporters stepped up demands that he be
restored to power from exile in South Africa. The
unrest began with a Sept. 30 demonstration marking the
1991 coup when soldiers first ousted Aristide. Police
reportedly shot and killed two protesters. The next
day, three police officers were found beheaded.

Hospital records show that at least 17 people died of
gunshot wounds on Sunday and Monday. That raised the
toll to at least 46 dead, including two leaders of
Aristide street gangs killed by police.

Aristide followers say the police started the
violence. They say the former soldiers should be
disarmed and convicted criminals in their ranks should
be jailed. And they are demanding an end to the
"occupation" by foreign troops.

The U.S.-backed interim government blames Aristide's
Lavalas Family Party and a new terrorism campaign
called Operation Baghdad for the latest unrest. On
Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher accused Aristide loyalists of "a campaign to
destabilize the interim government and disrupt the
efforts of the international community."

Ravix and other leaders of the former soldiers have
formed a political party and have friendly relations
with the interim government.



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