Uncle Sam
02-18-2004, 05:52 PM
http://news.myway.com/world/article/id/97064|world|02-18-2004::14:26|*******.html
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (*******) - Haiti faced fresh violence on Wednesday after a notorious death squad leader and his band of hardened ex-soldiers arrived to reinforce a revolt that threatens President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Government supporters flung up new street barricades and gunmen attacked a gas station as panic and fear spread through the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation.
The appearance of exiled right-wing militia leader Louis Jodel Chamblain has added a new dimension to the hitherto disorganized rebellion against Aristide -- once viewed as the champion of Haitian democracy but who now faces accusations of corruption and political violence.
Many, including the government, believe the Haiti's dispirited police face a challenge they do not have the ability, or the weapons, to overcome without outside help.
"Is Aristide going to negotiate his departure with the Chamblains, or with us? That's the choice," said Charles Baker, a leader of the political opposition that has distanced itself from the armed revolt, but still refuses to negotiate an end to political tensions unless Aristide resigns.
The port of Saint Marc, midway between Port-au-Prince and the city of Gonaives, where the armed revolt began almost two weeks ago, was locked down on Tuesday evening by militia manning barricades to defend it against possible attack, according to a ******* photographer.
In downtown Port-au-Prince, gunmen drove past a gas station during the night and fired at it until it exploded in flames. A few days ago, a pro-government leader in the area had said gas stations owned by opposition sympathizers would be attacked.
Residents in that part of the city have been enraged by the murder of the police chief of the central town of Hinche on Monday by gunmen who returned with Chamblain from the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Radio stations also reported a climate of fear in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the impoverished country's second-largest, where government loyalists attacked suspected rebel sympathizers in the days after the outbreak of the armed rebellion in Gonaives on Feb. 5.
The arrival of Chamblain, a leader of the FRAPH paramilitary force that terrorized Haitians during a military dictatorship in the early 1990s, and of former Cap-Haitien police chief Guy Philippe, whom Aristide accused of coup-mongering, prompted widespread condemnation.
FOREIGN INTERVENTION?
While making it clear that Washington would not support a government installed through violence, Secretary of State Colin Powell all but ruled out foreign police or military forces and said on Tuesday his favored a political settlement.
France, Haiti's former colonial master until Napoleon's army was routed in a slave revolt 200 years ago, was noncommittal about when it would send a peacekeeping force.
Nevertheless, many Haitians expect some form of foreign intervention.
The Haitian government appealed for international help in the form of technical assistance to the 5,000-strong police force, which was set up after Aristide disbanded the army a decade ago. He had been ousted in a military coup shortly after beginning his first term in 1991, but restored to office by a U.S. invasion in 1994.
The opposition, which accuses Aristide of becoming dictatorial but which the government dismisses as a rich mulatto elite intent on defending the spoils of privilege, condemned what it saw as the international community's apparent intention to again help the former parish priest retain power.
Baker dismissed calls to negotiate new parliamentary elections. Haiti's political impasse dates back to parliamentary elections in 2000 that were declared flawed. The opposition boycotted presidential elections later that year which handed Aristide a second term.
"His monopoly on violence is throughout the country, with one exception -- the north," said Baker. "If the international community comes in with troops and gives him back his hold on violence, he'll steal the election again. Who are they trying to fool?"
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (*******) - Haiti faced fresh violence on Wednesday after a notorious death squad leader and his band of hardened ex-soldiers arrived to reinforce a revolt that threatens President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Government supporters flung up new street barricades and gunmen attacked a gas station as panic and fear spread through the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation.
The appearance of exiled right-wing militia leader Louis Jodel Chamblain has added a new dimension to the hitherto disorganized rebellion against Aristide -- once viewed as the champion of Haitian democracy but who now faces accusations of corruption and political violence.
Many, including the government, believe the Haiti's dispirited police face a challenge they do not have the ability, or the weapons, to overcome without outside help.
"Is Aristide going to negotiate his departure with the Chamblains, or with us? That's the choice," said Charles Baker, a leader of the political opposition that has distanced itself from the armed revolt, but still refuses to negotiate an end to political tensions unless Aristide resigns.
The port of Saint Marc, midway between Port-au-Prince and the city of Gonaives, where the armed revolt began almost two weeks ago, was locked down on Tuesday evening by militia manning barricades to defend it against possible attack, according to a ******* photographer.
In downtown Port-au-Prince, gunmen drove past a gas station during the night and fired at it until it exploded in flames. A few days ago, a pro-government leader in the area had said gas stations owned by opposition sympathizers would be attacked.
Residents in that part of the city have been enraged by the murder of the police chief of the central town of Hinche on Monday by gunmen who returned with Chamblain from the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Radio stations also reported a climate of fear in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the impoverished country's second-largest, where government loyalists attacked suspected rebel sympathizers in the days after the outbreak of the armed rebellion in Gonaives on Feb. 5.
The arrival of Chamblain, a leader of the FRAPH paramilitary force that terrorized Haitians during a military dictatorship in the early 1990s, and of former Cap-Haitien police chief Guy Philippe, whom Aristide accused of coup-mongering, prompted widespread condemnation.
FOREIGN INTERVENTION?
While making it clear that Washington would not support a government installed through violence, Secretary of State Colin Powell all but ruled out foreign police or military forces and said on Tuesday his favored a political settlement.
France, Haiti's former colonial master until Napoleon's army was routed in a slave revolt 200 years ago, was noncommittal about when it would send a peacekeeping force.
Nevertheless, many Haitians expect some form of foreign intervention.
The Haitian government appealed for international help in the form of technical assistance to the 5,000-strong police force, which was set up after Aristide disbanded the army a decade ago. He had been ousted in a military coup shortly after beginning his first term in 1991, but restored to office by a U.S. invasion in 1994.
The opposition, which accuses Aristide of becoming dictatorial but which the government dismisses as a rich mulatto elite intent on defending the spoils of privilege, condemned what it saw as the international community's apparent intention to again help the former parish priest retain power.
Baker dismissed calls to negotiate new parliamentary elections. Haiti's political impasse dates back to parliamentary elections in 2000 that were declared flawed. The opposition boycotted presidential elections later that year which handed Aristide a second term.
"His monopoly on violence is throughout the country, with one exception -- the north," said Baker. "If the international community comes in with troops and gives him back his hold on violence, he'll steal the election again. Who are they trying to fool?"