18442: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By IAN JAMES

   CAP-HAITIEN, Feb 11 (AP) -- Armed civilians loyal to President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide stoked burning barricades and blocked roads to
Haiti's second-largest city for a second day Wednesday, vowing to keep
rebels from advancing and to stem a violent uprising that has killed at
least 42.
   Sporadic gunfire crackled over the northern port city of Cap-Haitien
overnight in an apparent attempt to intimidate any rebels or their
supporters.
   Under cover of darkness, with the city blacked out because there was no
fuel for generators, attackers looted a warehouse in the city, carrying
away bags of rice, flour and other staples, witnesses said.
   A police outpost in the remote northwest hamlet of Bassin Bleu was
torched by gunmen Monday in a hit-and-run operation, Radio Vision 2000
reported. It said police had abandoned the town Sunday.
   The uprising began Thursday in Haiti's fourth-largest city, Gonaives,
presenting a dangerous turning point in a political crisis that began after
flawed elections in 2000. A similar revolt in 1985 also started in Gonaives
and led to the downfall of the 29-year Duvalier family dictatorship.
   Most of Haiti returned to relative calm Tuesday, with Aristide
supporters looking to the battle ahead. Opponents refuse to participate in
new elections unless Aristide steps down.
   "We're going to devour them," said Jean-Claude Joseph, 35, standing at a
barricade with more than a dozen others at Cap-Haitien, a former Aristide
stronghold whose support for the president has waned with deepening
poverty.
   The State Department authorized the departure of diplomats' families and
non-emergency employees, even though most of Haiti was unaffected by the
uprising. The U.S. government also issued a travel warning, though few
tourists travel to Haiti.
   Roadblocks had prevented food deliveries to tens of thousands in the
north, the U.N. World Food Program warned from Geneva, and fuel tankers
also were blocked. Some gas stations had already run out of fuel in
Cap-Haitien, although the capital remained unaffected.
   In some areas where gunbattles had died down, neither police nor rebels
were present. In the northern town of Ennery, young men played soccer in
front of its charred police station, abandoned days earlier. Businesses and
schools were closed.
   "Everything's paralyzed," said David Metelus, a 22-year-old mechanic in
Ennery.
   Police regained control in three of the 11 towns affected. Reports from
the other eight were vague. In Gonaives, rebels continued patrolling the
streets, but violence had subsided.
   Bands of drunken pro-Aristide youths threw rocks at passing cars at the
edge of northern Cap-Haitien. Others said they were protecting the city's
half-million residents.
   Remy Charlot said Aristide militants gutted his restaurant in
Cap-Haitien Monday night. "Because I criticize the government, that's why
they burned my restaurant," he said. "They came inside. They poured
gasoline on all my stuff and they burned it."
   After sporadic gunbattles Monday, police regained control of the port
city of St. Marc, 45 miles west of Port-au-Prince, and nearby Grand-Goave.
At least two men were shot in St. Marc and another was killed, allegedly by
Aristide supporters.
   At Dondon, 12 miles outside Cap-Haitien, police helped by a pro-Aristide
militia managed to fight off rebels Monday and regain control of the town.
Aristide supporters then torched houses of nine anti-government activists
there, Radio Vision 2000 reported.
   Opposition politicians distanced themselves from the revolt, denying
government contentions they were working with the rebels to stage a coup.
   The United States, meanwhile, was "pushing very hard for an end to
violence," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday. He said
the U.S. government was urging Haitian leaders and the opposition to accept
help from the Caribbean Community.
   Last month, Trinidad's leader Patrick Manning said Caribbean nations
were ready to send peacekeepers to Haiti, but Aristide's government
rebuffed the offer.
   Tolls put together from witnesses, Red Cross officials, rebel leaders
and radio reports indicate at least 42 people, including policemen, have
been killed in the uprising.
   Haiti has suffered more than 30 coups in 200 years, the last in 1991
when Aristide was ousted just months after becoming the Caribbean nation's
first freely elected leader. The United States sent 20,000 U.S. troops in
1994 to restore Aristide.
   Tension has mounted since Aristide's party won flawed legislative
elections in 2000 and international donors blocked millions of dollars in
aid. Poverty has deepened, with most of the nation's 8 million people
unemployed and living on less than $1 a day.