17610: Lemieux: Reuters: Protests mar Haiti's bicentennial (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

 Reuter Foundation--AlertNet
 Alerting Humanitarians to Emergencies


  NEWSDESK

01 Jan 2004 20:26:00 GMT
Protests mar Haiti's bicentennial
 celebrationsBy Amy Bracken

GONAIVES, Haiti, Jan 1 (Reuters) - President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide marked Haiti's bicentennial on Thursday with
promises to improve the lot of his people, but celebrations
were marred by sporadic demonstrations against his
government.

Aristide, once a popular hero of a fledgling democracy but
now locked in a dispute with political opponents, told a
crowd outside the National Palace in the capital,
Port-au-Prince, that he would work to eradicate poverty,
illiteracy and sickness in the Caribbean nation of 8
million people.

Local media reported demonstrations against him in various
parts of the country in which at least eight people were
injured. No further details were immediately available.

Haiti, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with
the Dominican Republic, became the first black republic
when it shook off slavery and declared independence from
France on Jan. 1, 1804.

Its history has been plagued by violence and, in recent
times, by tensions between Aristide and his political
opponents, who accuse him of failing to live up to promises
of installing democracy in the poorest country in the
Americas.

Bicentennial celebrations began in the center of
Port-au-Prince on Wednesday and continued into Thursday
morning with the rally in front of the National Palace.

At one point, a crowd pressing up against a gate at the
palace pushed it down and several people were injured,
local media said.

"The first black republic of the world is and remains the
epicenter of liberty for blacks," Aristide told the crowd
in a speech that focused on his government's efforts to
improve social and economic conditions.

Haiti has an unemployment rate of more than 70 percent, an
average income of less than $1 a day and and an average
life expectancy of 50 years.

INSPIRATION TO WORLD

Guests at the official celebrations included South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who told the crowd Haiti's slave
revolt had inspired the world.

The successful uprising delivered a "deadly blow to the
slave traders who had scoured the coasts of West and East
Africa for slaves and ruined the lives of millions of
Africans," Mbeki said.

But some Aristide opponents said the bicentennial was best
marked by protesting against the government. In one part of
the capital, police dispersed an anti-Aristide
demonstration using tear gas and firing in the air, local
media said. Radio Vision 2000 reported that six people had
gunshot wounds.

The radio reported anti-government protests in the towns of
Jacmel, Moragoane and Gros Morne. The radio said two
people, including a police officer, were injured in Gros
Morne.

In the afternoon, Aristide traveled from Port-au-Prince to
Gonaives, home of Haiti's independence, but now a hotbed of
political unrest.

During Thursday morning, police searched for and exchanged
gunfire with anti-Aristide militants.

Thousands of people gathered in Gonaives to hear him speak
in the afternoon, wearing government-issued shirts
decorated with portraits of the former Roman Catholic
priest who was elected in Haiti's first free elections on a
tide of popular support in 1990. Aristide was soon ousted
in a military coup.

After his return from exile three years later, with the
assistance of U.S.-led troops, Aristide's popularity began
to wane. His party won parliamentary elections in 2000 and
he was re-elected later that year, but opposition leaders
questioned the legitimacy of both elections.

In recent months, thousands have taken to the streets
almost daily to protest against Aristide, accusing his
government of mismanagement and corruption. Several dozen
people have died in political violence since mid-September.




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