[News] Police retake three towns from Haiti coup rebels

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This story was printed from channelnewsasia.com

Title : Police retake three towns from Haiti rebels
Date : 11 February 2004 0133 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/70474/1/.html

PORT-AU-PRINCE : Haitian police retook three towns from rebels battling 
Jean Bertrand Aristide as the political opposition distanced themselves 
from the fighting that has left at least 42 dead in five days.

The United Nations warned meanwhile that the impoverished Caribbean nation 
faces a major humanitarian crisis.

Prime Minister Yvon Neptune briefly toured Grand-Goave after police backed 
by helicopters brought it back under government control late Monday, media 
reported.

A supporter of the ruling Lavalas party was killed on a road outside Grand 
Goave when police tried to separate rival pro- and anti-government 
demonstrators, a witness said. That brought the death toll to 42 since 
Thursday when rebels took over much of the northern city of Gonaives.

Neptune also went to St Marc which was taken back by police after a day of 
armed clashes between rival opposition groups.

Armed assailants attacked police in the smaller town of Dondon but police 
and armed supporters of the government regained control by late Monday 
after nine houses were torched and at least two people wounded, local radio 
reported.

Armed local insurgents took over about a dozen towns after the the Gonaives 
attack and took up opposition demands that Aristide stand down.

One opposition leader Andre Apaid late Monday blamed elected Aristide for 
the violence, calling him "a dictator and a despot."

Aristide has been ruling by decree since the country was left without a 
functioning legislature last year because parliamentary elections have not 
been held. The populist priest turned president has promised polls within 
six months, but not set a date.

He has also vowed to remain in office until the end of his term in 2006.

Aristide has accused the opposition political groups of favoring a coup 
d'etat against him but opposition parties distanced themselves from the 
armed opposition.

"We distinguish the popular movement we support demanding the deprture of 
Jean Bertrand Aristide from armed rebels with whom we do not identify 
ourselves," socialist Micha Gaillard, a prominent opposition political 
figure, told AFP.

"We are sticking to our peaceful strategy because the solution can only be 
peaceful and unnarmed," he added.

The United Nations warned Tuesday that a "major humanitarian crisis" is 
looming in Haiti.

"The insecurity and violence make us fear a major humanitarian crisis," 
said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the United Nations' humanitarian 
coordinator in Geneva.

Byrs warned that the fighting was holding up hampering food deliveries 
around Gonaives. "The villages in the north are those that have been most 
affected by hunger and are the poorest," she said.

Power has been cut since Monday in Cap-Haitien in the north, Haiti's second 
city, and no cars were on the streets Tuesday as there was no gasoline.

Several informal lottery stands and a restaurant belonging to presumed 
anti-government activists were burned by armed men.

In Port-au-Prince, two people were wounded in gunfire after a group opened 
fire seeking revenge for the killing Sunday of a police officer who was 
close to them.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Monday accused the 
Aristide administration of contributing to the violence.

The United States sent 20,000 troops to Haiti in 1994 to bring Aristide 
back to power after he was ousted in a coup. He stepped down after a 
five-year term and was reelected in 2000.

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham condemned the violence and 
supported international efforts by the Organization of American States and 
the Caribbean Community to mediate between Aristide and the opposition.

- AFP


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