‘Coup d’etat’ underway

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Convicted killers, torturers and ex-soldiers pushed ahead with what Haiti’s premier called a coup d’etat yesterday, even as Washington and Paris stated   reluctance to use force to halt the bloody uprising threatening to return Haiti to the dark days suffered under military dictatorship.

Aid agencies called for urgent international action, warning Haiti is on “the verge of a generalised civil war.” The UN refugee agency met with officials in Washington to discuss how to confront a feared exodus of Haitians, though there have been no immediate signs of people fleeing the violence. Nearly 60 people have been killed in the unrest, which prompted officials to close the airport Tuesday in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city, after witnesses in the barricaded city saw a boat approach and rumours swept the town that rebels were about to attack. In Port-au-Prince, airlines cancelled flights to Cap-Haitien, citing security concerns.

“We are witnessing the coup d’etat machine in motion,” Prime Minister Yvon Neptune said Tuesday, urging the international community “to show it really wants peace and stability.” Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Monday asked the Organisation of American States for “technical assistance.” Both men said Haiti’s 5,000 police force appears unable to stem the revolt, but stopped short of asking for military intervention. US Secretary of State Colin Powell ruled that out yesterday, saying “there is frankly no enthusiasm right now for sending in military or police forces to put down the violence.” Powell said the international community wants to see “a political solution” and only then would willing nations offer a police presence to implement such an agreement. Powell spoke by telephone with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who called an emergency meeting in Paris yesterday to weigh the risks of sending peacekeepers and discuss how otherwise to help Haiti, an impoverished former colony that is home to 2,000 French citizens. “Can we deploy a peacekeeping force?” de Villepin asked on France-Inter radio, noting it “is very difficult” amid violence. He said France had 4,000 troops in its Caribbean territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe trained in humanitarian work who could work with a UN humanitarian mission.

UN secretary general Kofi Annan said yesterday the world body plans to “become much more actively engaged” in Haiti’s crisis. Officials from several UN agencies went to the country on February 8 to assess the humanitarian situation and are expected to return to report at the end of the week. US Ambassador James Foley said Tuesday that Washington is ready to give $500,000 in humanitarian aid to Haiti through the United Nations. “We are calling for a truce. It doesn’t mean that we want to maintain the status quo. We want a radical change in the country,” Foley said. “Haiti cannot continue living without a state of law, with politicised and demoralised police, armed gangs.” The United States has staged three military interventions in Haiti, the last in 1994, when it sent 20,000 troops to end a military dictatorship that had ousted Aristide and halt an influx of Haitian boat people to Florida. Aristide, who was wildly popular when he became Haiti’s first freely elected leader in 1990, has lost support since his party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000. He is accused of using police and armed militants to stifle dissent and allowing corruption to fund lavish lifestyles for his cronies as the majority of the eight million people suffer deeper misery. See Pages 28, 29, 31