Ex-rebel leader slams "French occupation" of Haiti
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
GONAIVES, Haiti (AFP): Haitian
rebel-turned-opposition leader Buteur Metayer on Tuesday lashed out at the
French troops which form the largest contingent in the multinational force
deployed to this Caribbean nation. "Down with
the French occupation, down with France, the whites must leave. Down with the
French whites," Metayer called out to a crowd of 1,200 people in this
northwestern town. The crowd did not pick up
his chant of "Down with France." Metayer
spoke at a ceremony marking the transformation of his group of former rebels
into a political party, the National Reconstruction Front. His rebel group had
seized control of Gonaives during the rebellion that ended with president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide fleeing the country on February 29.
"The French whites are humiliating us. They search our homes and our cars," he
said. Guy Philippe, secretary general of the
new political party, slammed what he called "the return of white colonists to
the country to defend the small group of oligarchs."
"Two hundred years after independence, we are under occupation," he said.
The UN-led multilateral force was set up here after Aristide renounced the
presidency and fled the country amid escalating violence and bloodshed.
France's relations with Haiti, tense under Aristide, have warmed in recent
months. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier made a 24-hour official visit
to Haiti at the weekend, in which he promised cash, reconstruction aid and
goodwill.
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