Haiti revolt

ST MARC, Haiti — A popular armed uprising, branded as a coup attempt by the government, spread to nearly a dozen towns in western and northern Haiti yesterday, threatening the rule of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. At least 41 people have been killed. After sporadic gunbattles, police regained control of the important port city of St Marc, 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of Port-au-Prince. At least two men were shot and another was allegedly shot and killed by Aristide supporters. His body was left at the side of the road. “He wasn’t with the opposition,” said witness Paul-Henri Michel, 35. “He was just a person.”
 
In the first visit by a senior government official to any of the 11 affected towns, Prime Minister Yvon Neptune visited the charred remains of the St Marc Police Station yesterday. As buildings still smoldered in the city, Neptune called on residents and rebels to help restore calm. “The national police force alone cannot re-establish order,” Neptune told The Associated Press. He told state television on Sunday that “The violence is tied to a coup d’etat.” In the western town of Grand-Goave, some residents fled with belongings perched on their heads, the day after rebels evicted the police and torched the station. Insurgents also torched police stations in the northern towns of St Raphael and Dondon. Tension has been mounting since Aristide’s party won flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors blocked millions of dollars in aid. Misery has also deepened with most of the nation’s eight million living without jobs and on less than $1 a day despite election promises from the former priest who vowed to bring dignity to the poor.
 
The uprising signals a dangerous turning point in Haiti’s long-standing political crisis. A similar revolt in 1985 also began in Gonaives and led to the ouster a year later of dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and the end of a 29-year family dictatorship.  “We are in a situation of armed popular insurrection,” said opposition politician Himler Rebu, who led a failed coup against Lt Gen Prosper Avril in 1989. With fewer than 5,000 poorly armed police — it’s not known how many have fled — the government is ill-equipped to halt the revolt spreading in the Caribbean nation. Police stations have been a major target because they symbolise Aristide’s authority. Officers are accused of being partisan to government supporters in a wave of protests that began in mid-September. The rebels began their assault Thursday in Gonaives, Haiti’s fourth-largest city of 200,000 people, setting the police station on fire and driving out police and government workers.

Other affected towns include L’Estere and Anse Rouge in the west and Petite Riviere de l’Artibonite, Gros Morne, Trou du Nord and Ennery in the north. The area includes the Artibonite valley that is the breadbasket of Haiti. The rebels are led by several factions, including former Aristide supporters, former soldiers who helped oust Aristide in a 1991 coup and civilians frustrated by deepening poverty. Rebels have clashed with police in at least 11 towns, stealing weapons from stations before setting them ablaze. In three towns, rebels said they appointed their own mayors and police chief.

Rebels and residents have set up barricades of flaming tires, wrecked cars, and felled trees on roads leading to Gonaives, St Marc and the northern city of Cap-Haitien, preventing trucks from delivering fuel for electric power generators. With no fuel, the towns could lose power later today, a power company official said on condition of anonymity.  In New York, UN secretary general Kofi Annan said the situation was being watched closely. Without giving specifics, he said, “We will be stepping up our own involvement fairly soon.” Aristide was elected in Haiti’s first democratic election in 1990 then ousted months later by the army. He was restored in a 1994 US invasion and disbanded the army.

Regional PMs for Haiti talks

Georgetown, Guyana — The Caribbean Community on Monday said it would hold a teleconference meeting with several prime ministers to discuss the uprising in Haiti. Arrangements for a teleconference late yesterday with Prime Ministers Patrick Manning, PJ Patterson of Jamaica, Kenny Anthony of St Lucia and Perry Christie of the Bahamas were in progress last night.