24248: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti police hunt rebel ex-soldiers, say no talks (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Haitian police launched a
hunt on Friday for rebel former soldiers accused of killing four police
officers, and Haiti's interim authorities said they would crack down on the
men they called bandits.
     Police Chief Leon Charles said the police are looking for Remissainthe
Ravix, the leader of the former soldiers. He ruled out negotiating with the
group.
     The announcement came one day after Haitian police, backed by about
150 U.N. troops, stormed the former soldiers' headquarters building in
Petionville on the outskirts of the capital. The targets of the raid, whom
Charles accused of stealing vehicles and police weapons, had left the
compound.
     The police arrested three people, confiscated several army uniforms
and uncovered papers that appeared to be plans to attack the National
Palace, a police spokeswoman said. Authorities were still analyzing the
papers.
     Police operations would extend to "other areas where those bandits
have been calling the shots," Charles said.
     "The police have decided to combat this situation, to attack and
really hunt those who tarnish the noble military institution's image. They
are nothing but bandits," said Charles, a former army lieutenant.
     Former troops led the rebel force that pushed out President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide a year ago and still control parts of Haiti, which
has been plagued by political and gang violence that has killed more than
240 people since September.
     Police last week arrested a former soldier who possessed a
government-owned vehicle and a gun confiscated from a policeman, Charles
said. He identified the man as a driver for Ravix.
     In retaliation, the ex-soldiers kidnapped four policemen in
Terre-Rouge, in the Haitian-Dominican border area where Ravix and a group
of his men took refuge after clashing with Haitian authorities few months
ago. U.N. troops negotiated the policemen's safe release last week.
     But on Sunday, four police officers were killed in the residential
Clercine neighborhood, not far from a base for U.N. peacekeepers who have
been trying to stabilize Haiti since shortly after Aristide was driven out.
     Police authorities have accused Ravix's men of killing the officers,
which Ravix denied.
     The time for a political settlement had passed, Charles said. "But we
cannot wait anymore, we cannot sit idly by and let those guys kill
policemen," he said. "We don't have to negotiate with those people."
     Haiti's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said his government
would disarm all those who carry illegal weapons.
     Ex-soldiers have demanded that the government reinstate the army,
which Aristide disbanded in 1995, but interim authorities said that
decision would be left to the next elected government. A presidential
ballot is scheduled for November, with a new president due to take office
in February 2006.