23942: (pub) Chamberlain: Haiti rebel leader vows to launch guerrilla warfare (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec 18 (Reuters) - A Haitian rebel leader has
called on ex-soldiers, who helped oust former president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, to launch a guerrilla war to unseat the interim government that
replaced him.
    The call  on Saturday came a day after the government asked U.N. troops
to remove rebels who occupied Aristide's former home and called it their
new headquarters.
     "We called on former military from across the country to organize a
guerrilla warfare to give a response to the government," said Remissainthes
Ravix, the self-proclaimed commander of the former military, which took
over the former Aristide compound on Thursday.
     The stand-off over Aristide's home underlined the violence and
tensions plaguing Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, despite the
presence of some 6,000 Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeeping troops and police.
     At the request of the Haitian government, U.N. peacekeepers stormed
the compound on Friday, disarmed about 50 rebel former soldiers and bused
them to the capital's police academy, where they remained on Saturday.
     It was not clear what their status was, but Justice Minister Bernard
Gousse said their stay at the academy would be temporary. He did not give
any details.
     "(Police Chief) Leon Charles and the government are responsible for
what is happening in the country," said Ravix, who accused the government
of betraying former soldiers.
     The ex-soldiers, who joined a revolt against Aristide that pushed him
into exile in February, have fallen out with the authorities.
     The rebels are demanding that the army, disbanded by Aristide nine
years ago, be reinstated and that former soldiers be given 10 years in back
pay.
    Interim authorities, led by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, have turned
down the back pay claim but have agreed to pay an "indemnity" before year's
end.
     The government has also said a decision on reinstating the military
should be made by an elected government scheduled to take office in
February 2006.
     Rebel soldiers still control large chunks of the Caribbean nation of 8
million. Aristide, the former priest and champion of Haiti's poor, who
faced accusations of corruption and despotism in recent years, is living in
exile in South Africa.
     About 200 people have been killed since early September in gang wars
and clashes between Aristide foes and supporters of his Lavalas Family
party.
     Former military personnel in Petit-Goave, about 40 miles (60 km)
south of Port-au-Prince, were holding a policeman hostage on Saturday after
police in the neighboring town of Miragoane arrested and detained four
rebel former soldiers who attacked a police station there.
     The rebels said they would release the policeman in exchange for their
colleagues.
     Police officers in the provincial city of Mirebalais, in the Central
Plateau -- controlled by the rebels -- have fled, fearing reprisals.
Ex-soldiers have confiscated automatic weapons from the police, according
to a Haitian police spokeswoman, Jessie Coicou.