23934: (pub) Chamberlain: Haiti-Soldiers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec 18 (AP) -- Bands of former soldiers and armed
residents looted police arsenals, set bonfires and fired shots into the air
amid escalating chaos in this impoverished Caribbean nation.
   On Saturday, armed civilians set the bonfires of tires to block a road
in the southwestern town of Petit Goave, a day after they shot into the air
and hurled stones at Sri Lankan peacekeepers who tried to wrest control of
a police station from rebels.
   The U.N. troops were forced to retreat, said Elisee Sincere, a reporter
with local Radio Vision 2000 who witnessed the confrontation. U.N.
officials could not immediately be reached for comment, and it was unclear
if anyone was hurt.
   The Sri Lankan troops managed to gain control of another police station
in the outskirts of the city, where rebels had resisted, Sincere said.
   Petit Goave is one of several provincial towns still under control of
rebels who ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February and who are
refusing to lay down their weapons. The rebels include members of the army
which first overthrew Aristide in 1991 as well as convicted criminals and
others accused of killings, rapes and torture under the 1991-1994 military
regime before Aristide returned to power and disbanded the army.
   The former soldiers, growing increasingly impatient with an interim
government that has declined to reinstate the army, want a role in
providing security for Haiti and are demanding 10 years of back pay.
   The latest tensions began Sept. 30, when Aristide loyalists stepped up
protests in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to demand his return from exile in
South Africa.
   At least 100 people have been killed since in violence that continued
Friday night.
   In the southern town of Miragoane, Haitian police fought off rebels who
attacked their station, wounding two men who were subsequently arrested. A
third man was detained during the same incident, national police spokesman
Gessy Coicou said.
   In the western town of Arcahaie, rebels raided a police station,
throwing officers to the ground and seizing their guns. But the rebels
quickly fled, believing that U.N. peacekeepers were heading their way to
regain control of the station, U.N. police spokesman Dan Moskaluk said.
   Moskaluk said he didn't know if peacekeepers ever arrived.
   In the central Haitian town of Mirebalais, police still had not returned
to their station Saturday after their community was overrun by rebels
Friday night, although U.N. peacekeepers had regained control of the area,
regional government representative Rafael Joachim said.
   About 30 rebels blocked roads with hijacked trucks and buses in that
incident, Joachim said.
   The violence in the provincial towns came as U.N. troops detonated an
explosive device Friday to force their way into Aristide's former estate in
the capital of Port-au-Prince. That ended a two-day standoff with former
soldiers who had occupied the plundered premises. Brazilian soldiers said
the explosion was a warning and none of the about 50 ex-soldiers inside
were injured.