24322: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Prison Attack (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PETER PRENGAMAN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 20 (AP) -- Haitian police on Sunday were hunting for
nearly 500 prisoners who escaped after an armed attack on the national
penitentiary that sparked a riot and left one guard dead.
   Two prominent allies of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had
been rushed to a secure location during the attack Saturday night, were
returned to the prison, authorities said.
   Guards had rushed former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and former Interior
Minister Jocelerme Privert to a secret location when the attack occurred
and inmates began rioting, and the two were later turned over to U.N.
soldiers, Damian Onses-Cardona, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping
mission, told The Associated Press.
   "They were taken back to prison in U.N. vehicles," Onses-Cardona said
Sunday. "They insisted on returning to make clear they didn't try to
escape."
   Onses-Cardona said authorities were investigating whether the attack,
which came as Aristide partisans prepare to mark the anniversary of his
Feb. 29 flight from the country, was aimed at freeing Neptune and Privert.
   Chilean Ambassador Marcel Young denied reports that the two men had
escaped and sought asylum from foreign embassies before being recaptured.
   Young said he met with them Saturday and "they were only concerned about
their security. Once that was arranged, they asked to go back to the
prison."
   The two men are accused of orchestrating killings of Aristide opponents
during a rebellion in the western town of Saint-Marc. Both men have said
they are innocent. They are among dozens of Aristide officials and
supporters detained since Aristide fled Haiti amid a three-week rebellion.
None have been formally charged.
   Foreign Minister Herard Abraham said in a radio address that 481 of more
than 1,250 prisoners at the prison had escaped. He said heavily armed men
had attacked the prison, without elaboration, only adding that police were
aggressively seeking fugitives.
   Privert's wife, Ginette Privert, was among of dozens of people waiting
outside the prison Sunday for information about their relatives.
   "I haven't heard from him or seen him so I don't know if he's OK," she
said of her husband. "I've been waiting three hours and they still won't
let me in."
   Journalists were not allowed inside the prison. About 40 U.N. troops and
10 Haitian police guarded the main entrance.
   Pierre Esperance, of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, said his
group toured the prison Sunday and verified Privert and Neptune were there,
but the group was not allowed to interview the inmates.
   Police told the coalition that two escaped prisoners had been caught,
while Jacques Mathelier, a former delegate from Aristide's Lavalas Party,
was among those still free, Esperance said.
   "The government needs to investigate this attack because there had to be
help from the inside to do this," Esperance said.
   The attack began Saturday afternoon when three or four men dressed in
black and armed with assault rifles drove up to the prison in a jeep and
began firing into the air, touching off a brief gunbattle with guards,
witnesses said.
   At least one guard was killed, said police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou.
Bullet holes pockmarked the walls of the prison, which is in downtown
Port-au-Prince just behind the presidential National Palace, and spent
ammunition littered the pavement.
   In December, gunmen opened fire outside the prison and inmates living in
overcrowded and unsanitary conditions rioted. Prison authorities said seven
prisoners were killed by other inmates, but one witness who escaped in the
confusion charged guards had killed some prisoners.
   Violence has persisted in Haiti's capital despite the presence of a
7,400-member U.N. peacekeeping force in the Caribbean nation. More than 250
people have died in clashes since September, when Aristide supporters
stepped up calls for his return from exile in South Africa.