6720: Haitian government blames opposition for 4 bombs before inauguration (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier <nozier@tradewind.net>

 Haitian government blames opposition for 4 bombs before inauguration
 January 20, 2001  Web posted at: 8:47 PM EST (0147 GMT)

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- The Haitian government on Saturday blamed

 the opposition for orchestrating four bomb attacks that left two
seriously injured
 just weeks ahead of Jean Bertrand Aristide's inauguration. The attacks
occurred Friday -- two in downtown Port-au-Prince, the capital, and two
in suburban Petionville.
"After the bombing yesterday in Port-au-Prince we obtained very clear
evidence
of the participation of the opposition parties in the bombing campaign,"
Prime
Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis said in a statement Saturday.
 Police arrested one man in connection with one of two bombings in
Petionville.
 The government said the man -- who has not been charged -- belonged to
the
opposition alliance. The opposition, however, said the man was not a
member
 and denied any involvement in the attacks.
"We from the opposition party, we reject those accusations and we think
(Aristide's) regime is desperate now because of mobilization calling for
dialogue to resolve the political crisis," said Serge Gilles, a leader
in the opposition alliance. "We are peaceful and democratic. We are not
involved in violence."  Just weeks from Aristide's February 7
inauguration, tensions have been building  in the capital where an
alliance of opposition groups are planning to write a  platform for a
national unity government that would hold quick general elections. All
of Haiti's main opposition parties boycotted the November 26
presidential elections, claiming May local and legislative elections
were rigged to give
 Aristide's Lavalas Family party 80 percent of seats. Aristide won with
nearly 92
 percent of the vote over six little-known opponents. Grouped in a
15-party alliance called Convergence, the opposition will hold a
national convention next week. Delegates will select the members of an
alternative government and write the guiding lines of its program.