a755: AP: Police Detain Activists in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>


Police Detain Activists in Haiti
By Michael Norton
Associated Press Writer
Monday, February 11, 2002; 9:39 PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti –– Police have detained 15
opposition activists and a journalist, an opposition
politician said Monday.

The men were detained Friday and Saturday night, said
Jean Limongy, of the opposition Convention of
Democratic Unity party.

Limongy said family members of those detained had
confirmed the arrests on suspicion of planning to
disturb the final three days of carnival celebrations
that began Sunday.

Police spokesman Jean-Dady Simeon said he couldn't
confirm the detentions.

Journalist Jennet Morin also was detained at his home
Saturday, said Wakimg Exume, newsroom director of the
private radio station where Morin works. Exume said
Morin was not a member of any political party.

It was not clear if the alleged detentions were linked
to an attack on a police station Saturday in Petit
Goave, about 38 miles west of the capital, in which
one police officer was shot and killed.

Opposition parties have been locked in a dispute with
the government over the 2000 elections that gave
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party victories in
80 percent of the legislative and local races.

The 15-party opposition alliance Convergence has said
the elections were rigged. Although the government and
opposition have agreed to a new vote, they have not
been able to agree on the conditions for it.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid
has been suspended until the two sides settle the
dispute.

The opposition has complained of persecution by the
government and Aristide supporters.

© 2002 The Associated Press

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