Anti-Aristide violence mounts in Haiti

by Dominique Levanti

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Rebel fighters in Haiti's north, now plunged into chaos, battled authorities Monday as they pressed their violent drive to force President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to step down.

Witnesses reported hearing gunfire in the coastal village of Saint-Marc north of Port-au-Prince Monday and funnels of black smoke rose above burning barricades erected across the city as armed rival opposition groups clashed.

Police reinforcements ferried in from the capital tried but failed to regain control of Saint-Marc, a city of 160,000 96 kilometers north of the capital. Police were trying to beat back an opposition group called Ramicos that burned the city police station on Saturday.

Saint-Marc is on the road from the capital to Goniaves, the city of 200,000 that fell on Thursday to an armed opposition group called the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front (RARF). Police said they made a strategic withdrawal from Gonaives.

The rebels destroyed bridges and dug trenches to stop police from returning to that city, according to radio stations. Television images showed corpses lying in the city's roads while men armed with guns, improvised maces and machettes stood on cars and roamed the streets.

More than 60 people have died in Gonaives since September and more than 100 have been injured.

Witnesses and radio stations said three to seven policemen were killed Saturday in an attempt to reclaim the city.

Shootings, vandalism and looting have erupted in several cities as police fought to quash the uprisings.

Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, was last elected in 2000. He insisted that he will hold office until his term ends in 2006.

Prime Minister Yvon Neptune on Sunday accused opposition groups of trying to mount a coup to overthrow the government as police gave up an attempt to reclaim control of the coastal city of Gonaives.

"This violence is connected to a coup attempt," Neptune said in a television interview.

"If the opposition wants to participate in the construction of a law-abiding state, it should play a role in stopping the violence," Neptune said.

He called on the opposition to participate in helping the country hold elections.

"It's only through elections that the crisis can be resolved," he continued.

Parliamentary elections failed last year when no electoral body was set up to oversee the polls, leaving the nation without a functioning legislature.

Aristide now rules by decree, although he has promised elections within six months. The opposition dismissed his proposal as inadequate.

Neptune asked Haitians to report attacks on police to allow authorities to restore peace in the impoverished nation.

Police left Gonaives on Sunday after failing to reclaim control, which it lost on Thursday to the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front (RARF).

Police stations were burned down in several cities by anti-government groups asking for Aristide's resignation, while barricades were set ablaze in several cities, including the capital Port-au-Prince.

Media reports said burning barricades had been erected in Cap Haitien and that the police station in Grand-Goave, west of the capital, had been burned down after an attack by opponents of Aristide.

Evans Paul, a leader of the political opposition, urged police not to fight the population, who he said shared the rebels' desire to force Aristide to step down.

"France calls for an immediate end to the violence, from wherever it arises, and for respect for the rule of law," said French foreign ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous, after the United Nations indicated it would boost its involvement soon.

Over the weekend the Organization of American States also called for an immediate end to the violence.

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