23343: (Chamberlain) Aristide backers threaten to behead foreigners (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 6 (AP) -- Enraged supporters of ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide armed themselves with machetes, guns, rocks and
bottles and roamed a downtown slum, threatening to behead foreigners after
U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police arrested dozens of people Wednesday.
   As gunfire crackled and two helicopters roared overhead, peacekeepers in
armored personnel carriers moved into Bel Air, trying to put down a
campaign by Aristide loyalists who have carried out gory beheadings in
imitation of Iraqi insurgents.
   Wednesday morning, the headless body of a man lay in the street in La
Salines, a seaside slum. Last week, three police officers were decapitated
when Aristide supporters stepped up protests demanding his return from
exile in South Africa, launching what they called "Operation Baghdad."
   One angry man in Bel Air thrust a gun into the face of an Associated
Press reporter Wednesday, yelled expletives against President Bush and U.N.
peacekeepers, then screamed: "We are going to kidnap some Americans and cut
off their heads."
   At least 19 people have been killed in Port-au-Prince. Relief workers
say the violence could paralyze attempts to feed tens of thousands of
people in the northwest port city of Gonaives, which was devastated by
Tropical Storm Jeanne last month.
   Aristide loyalists had sealed off Bel Air, a warren of concrete homes
overlooking the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. In Wednesday's
operation, U.N. troops and Haitian police surrounded the district,
searching cars and people at checkpoints near torched cars that residents
were using to keep them out.
   Police director Renan Etienne said they detained some 500 people for
questioning during the sweep of Bel Air, but found no weapons.
   "They were all bandits ... They had been firing at police," he told The
Associated Press. He was unable to explain why no guns were found.
   Police spokeswoman Jesse Coicou said 75 people were arrested.
   On Tuesday, a dozen young men and children in Bel Air shot a man and
tried unsuccessfully to hack off his head, accusing him of spying for
rebels who overthrew Aristide, said Ninger Napoleon, a reporter for Radio
Antilles.
   The troops and police withdrew from Bel Air Wednesday morning, leaving
deserted streets to men and boys armed with machetes, guns, knives, bottles
and stones. They lit bonfires to block roads with torched cars, tires,
mattresses and old furniture.
   "We demand Aristide's return," they said.
   One young man peeked out from behind a door and whispered "I just want
to go to school. This violence is preventing me from living my life."
   Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue -- whom protesters also have
threatened to behead -- accused pro-Aristide street gangs of instigating
the violence. Aristide supporters say the police started it by firing at
unarmed protesters.
   "This threatens to paralyze all the humanitarian efforts we have in
Gonaives. It's extremely serious," said Anne Poulsen of the U.N. World Food
Program.
   She said the unrest had scared away workers from the port, stranding
2,430 tons of food there.
   The government has only 3,000 ill-equipped officers to police a country
of 8 million people, and the Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeeping force has
3,000 troops -- well under the 8,000 promised.
   Some 750 peacekeepers are protecting relief food supplies and
distribution for storm victims in Gonaives. At least 1,870 Haitians were
killed by the tropical storm, and nearly 900 more are missing -- most
presumed dead.
   In Gonaives, food aid has failed to reach thousands who are too weak,
sick or old to get into rowdy food lines. More than 100,000 remain hungry
nearly three weeks after Jeanne's passage, the International Federation of
Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies said.
   Saint Amise Dorcelue said she has tried and failed four times to get
food for herself and her five boys. Six months pregnant, Dorcelue was left
penniless after her husband died trying to save his fishing boat from the
storm.
   "I'm hungry, too, but I can't fight or my baby might get hurt," the
barefoot 30-year-old said, patting her stomach.
   Gonaives had never recovered from a February rebellion that began when a
street gang torched government buildings, released jailed criminals and
forced police to flee. Dozens of people were killed.
   ------
   Associated Press writer Stevenson Jacobs contributed to this report from
Gonaives.