18389: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By IAN JAMES

   ST. MARC, Feb 10 (AP) -- U.N. aid officials warned of a looming
humanitarian crisis Tuesday, and violence spread to Haiti's second-largest
city in a rebel uprising that has taken at least 42 lives.
   It was the strongest challenge yet to embattled President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. Rebels have rampaged through 11 towns, taking control of some.
   Early Tuesday, government supporters in Cap-Haitien, the second largest
city, built flaming barricades to keep rebels out, radio stations reported.
There were also reports of gunbattles overnight in the city on Haiti's
north coast, but it was unclear if there were casualties.
   United Nations aid officials in Geneva said the violence was shutting
off deliveries of necessities to thousands of needy Haitians, threatening a
broad humanitarian crisis.
   Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
in Geneva, urged "all concerned to stop the violence and resolve the
political crisis in a peaceful and constitutional manner."
   Tolls put together from witnesses, Red Cross officials, rebel leaders
and radio reports indicate at least 42 have died, including several
policemen.
   After sporadic gunbattles Monday, police regained control of the
important port city of St. Marc, 45 miles west of Port-au-Prince, capital.
At least two men were shot and another was allegedly shot and killed by
Aristide supporters. His body was left on a roadside.
   "The national police force alone cannot re-establish order," Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune told The Associated Press in St. Marc on the first
visit to any of the affected towns by a senior government official.
   "The violence is tied to a coup d'etat," he said the day before.
   In Port-au-Prince, the capital, a coalition of opposition political
parties met to discuss whether they should join the rebels. But by late
Monday, they had distanced themselves from the uprising.
   "We do not recognize ourselves in the armed insurrection but in the
peaceful struggle of the people for democracy," said Mischa Gaillard, an
opposition politician who met with others in the Democratic Platform late
Monday. "We deplore violence."
   The uprising, which began Thursday in Haiti's fourth-largest city of
Gonaives, signals a dangerous turning point in Haiti's three-year political
crisis. A similar revolt in 1985 also began in Gonaives and led to the
ouster to following year of the 29-year Duvalier family dictatorship.
   "We are in a situation of armed popular insurrection," said opposition
politician Himler Rebu, who led a failed coup against Lt. Gen. Prosper
Avril in 1989.
   Tension has mounted since Aristide's party won flawed legislative
elections in 2000 and international donors blocked millions of dollars in
aid. Misery has also deepened with most of the nation's 8 million people
living without jobs and on less than $1 day despite election promises from
Aristide, a former priest who had vowed to bring dignity to the poor.
   With no army and fewer than 5,000 poorly armed police, the government is
ill-equipped to halt the revolt. Police stations have been a major target
because they symbolize Aristide's authority and officers are accused of
siding with government supporters.
   Since capturing Gonaives, a city of 200,000 people, the rebels have
spread to towns to the west and north. They have clashed with police in at
least 11 towns, and in three towns they said they appointed their own
mayors and police chiefs.
   Some residents fled western Grand-Goave with belongings perched on their
heads Monday, the day after rebels torched the police station. Insurgents
also set ablaze stations in the northern towns of St. Raphael and Dondon,
where police launched counterattacks and wounded two rebels, according to
Radio Vision 2000.
   It reported that police in Dondon put the rebels to flight, and that
afterward government supporters torched houses of nine anti-Aristide
leaders.
   The United States condemned the violence and called on Aristide's
government to respect human rights. State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said Haiti's problems will not be solved by violence and
retribution.
   U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the United Nations "will be
stepping up our own involvement fairly soon" but did not elaborate.
   The rebels include former Aristide supporters, former soldiers who
helped oust Aristide in a 1991 coup and civilians frustrated by deepening
poverty.
   Aristide won Haiti's first democratic election in 1990 and was then
ousted months later by the army. He was restored to power in a 1994 U.S.
invasion, and disbanded the army three months later.