Haiti unrest claims three more lives as Annan approves dispatch of UN team

by Dominique Levanti

Thursday, February 12, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Haiti's political unrest claimed three more lives Wednesday as the country's second-largest city remained without power amid outbreaks of sporadic looting.

The victims, three young people, were shot dead in the Haitian city of Saint Marc, 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital Port-au-Prince, according to an AFP correspondent.

The latest blood letting raised the death toll since last Thursday to at least 46 following the deaths of two people in Saint Marc overnight.

The three corpses Wednesday were seen sprawled on the ground in a neighborhood of this small port city, plagued by armed clashes between police rebels opposed to President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

The northern city of Cap-Haitien, the country's second biggest, was also without power after a food depot was looted and torched, amid increasing fears that groups supporting Aristide would retaliate if rebels tried to take over the city.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he would send a UN team to the stricken Caribbean republic to assess its humanitarian situation.

Tensions spilled over in several other towns as the Aristide government struggled to win back control of towns taken by armed rebels.

The United States voiced worry over Haiti's mounting troubles.

"We are extremely concerned about the wave of violence sweeping through Haiti, and we certainly deeply regret the loss of life," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the United States had no plans to send US troops to restore order in Haiti.

In 1994, Washington sent 20,000 troops to Haiti to bring Aristide back to power after he was sacked in a coup. He stepped down after a five-year term and was re-elected in 2000.

Aside from the food depot in Cap-Haitien, other businesses were destroyed or vandalised in the tense atmosphere on Wednesday, a local journalist told AFP.

Many lottery stands and restaurants owned by people believed to oppose Aristide have been burned down in recent days.

"We call on the government to respect the rights, especially human rights, of the citizens and residents of Haiti," McClellan said.

Two people accused of being members of the opposition were burned alive in their homes overnight in Saint Marc, according to a local journalist. The killings were apparently in retaliation for the torching of a clinic run by a doctor whose brother is in the pro-Aristide camp, according to the journalist.

Saint Marc is one of three cities police took back on Monday from rebels who have claimed control of a dozen towns since last Thursday.

Shots were heard in a Saint Marc neighborhood controlled by Ramicos, an armed opposition group.

Several police stations have been destroyed since opponents of Aristide stepped up their protests.

The main police station in Limbe, just south of Cap-Haitien, was abandoned on Monday night before it was burned down by an armed group, a journalist said.

Rebels calling themselves the National Reconstruction and Liberation Front said they were determined to liberate the whole country.

"The Haitian revolution is on the march," rebel spokesman Winter Etienne said in a statement. "We have decided to no longer live in despair. We will regain our hope for the future."

In New York, Kofi Annan's spokesman said the UN chief had decided to send a team to Haiti.

He said Annan is unlikely to send a special envoy to the country, preferring for now to focus on regional efforts to end the showdown between armed rebels and Aristide's supporters.

Aristide, who has vowed to stay in office until his term ends in 2006, has been ruling by decree after failed elections last year left Haiti without a functioning legislature.

The populist priest-turned-president has promised elections within six months but has not set a date.

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 departure of Jean Bertrand Aristide, from armed rebels with whom we do not identify ourselves," socialist Micha Gaillard, a prominent opposition political figure, told AFP.

International calls for peace continued. France called for an "immediate end to violence."

The United Nations warned that Haiti faced a "major humanitarian crisis," and the United States and Canada advised their citizens to leave the country.

The Organization of American States and the 15-nation Caribbean Community have been trying to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

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