23963: (pub) Chamberlain: Haiti police hunt rebel leader (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Haitian police launched a
manhunt on Monday for a former soldier who has called for guerrilla war
against the interim government that took over from ousted president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a government official said.
     Justice Minister Bernard Gousse said Haitian police were seeking
Remissainthes Ravix because he had threatened to kill Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue and police chief Leon Charles.
     Ravix is the self-proclaimed leader of renegade former soldiers who
have turned against the interim government.
     They occupied Aristide's old home last week, before being dislodged by
Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeepers. On Saturday, Ravix called on ex-soldiers
to launch a guerrilla war.
     "Ravix has been committing violence. He has stolen nine state-owned
vehicles, he has said on the radio that they (former soldiers) should shoot
the prime minister and he has called on former soldiers to shoot at police
chief Leon Charles. Because of all I have just said he is wanted by the
police," Gousse said on local radio.
     He did not refer to Ravix' comments about a guerrilla war, but
Latortue, without mentioning the former soldiers, said on local radio on
Monday that he would not tolerate any disturbances by any armed group.
     Last week's stand-off over the Aristide house, and Ravix' comments at
the weekend fueled growing tensions between the interim authorities and the
ex-soldiers, who joined the revolt that forced Aristide into exile in
February.
     Relations with the U.S.-backed interim government were initially good.
But they have soured over calls by former members of the army, which was
disbanded nine years ago, for the military to be reinstated and for
ex-soldiers to be paid nearly a decade worth of back pay.
     Ravix said on Monday on Radio Solidarite that "now the government has
called us outlaws but the justice minister came to see me after Aristide's
departure to personally congratulate me for a job well done."
     Ravix led the occupation of the old Aristide house last week but was
not there when U.N. peacekeepers, charged with stabilizing Haiti after the
upheaval of Aristide's departure, went in on Friday. Some 50 ex-soldiers
were taken out of the compound and are being housed at a police academy.
     Rebel ex-soldiers still hold sway in parts of the impoverished
Caribbean country, which is wracked by political and criminal violence
despite the presence of 6,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops and police.
     Gousse said the government would take appropriate measures to dislodge
rebel former soldiers occupying several police stations in a number of
provincial cities.
     He said ex-soldiers had been shooting at people who did not stop at
checkpoints they had set up in parts of the country, and called on all
former military to lay down their weapons.