18447: (Chamberlain) Haitian rebel city braced for counter-attack (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Christie

    GONAIVES, HAITI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Heavily armed rebels manned
barricades in the rubble-strewn streets of Gonaives on Wednesday and warned
they were ready for a possible counter-attack by Haitian government forces.
     Buter Metayer, leader of an armed gang in the country's fourth-largest
city that used to support President Jean-Bertrand Aristide but has turned
violently against him, said his group was tough and prepared for anything.
     Some rebels in this dirt-poor town of 200,000 wore police helmets
taken after they drove out the police last Thursday and sparked an armed
revolt that spread to several other cities in Haiti and threatened
Aristide's rule.
     At least 34 people have been killed in the violence, which erupted
after months of almost daily protests against Aristide by his political
opponents in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.
     A former Roman Catholic priest who was once hailed as a champion of
Haiti's fledgling democracy, Aristide is now widely criticized by his
opponents for abuse of civil rights and political thuggery.
     Aristide's government checked the revolt by taking back two towns
earlier this week, Saint Marc and Grand Goave. Pro-Aristide militia also
showed their teeth on Tuesday in country's second-largest city,
Cap-Haitien.
     They attacked the homes of political opponents, ordered local radio
stations off the air and erected blazing barricades to halt any advance by
armed rebels, local media reported.
     But in Gonaives, Metayer and his supporters, who fought off a police
effort to retake the city at the weekend, appeared ready for any
counter-attack.
     The rebels said they had appointed a new mayor of the "independent
city of Gonaives" and established their own police force.
     Metayer, who turned 33 on Wednesday, cruised the streets in a seized
police vehicle with a large armed escort and said there was no place in the
country of eight million people with as much security as this.
     Did he feel nervous after the government successfully retook two
towns? "No, no pressure," he said, beaming.
     But some residents appeared apprehensive of possible police action,
asking journalists "are the police coming?"
     Metayer said he intended to take back Saint Marc, which is on the road
to the capital Port-au-Prince and had been in rebel hands over the weekend,
and then move on to the rest of Haiti.
     Metayer's brother Amiot, who had run the formerly pro-government
Cannibal Army militia that terrorized Gonaives residents, was killed last
September.
     Buter Metayer said Aristide was behind the killing and turned his
gunmen against the government.
     Washington had sharp words on Tuesday for the man it once supported
with 20,000 troops, saying the crisis would require big changes in the way
the country is governed. A senior official said this could mean Aristide
stepping down.
    The United States led an invasion in 1994 to put Aristideback in power
after a military coup had ousted him just months after he became the
country's first democratically-elected leader in 1991. Aristide was
re-elected for a second term in 2000, but his popularity has dived.