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Title | : | Police move into seized Haitian city of Gonaives as strife deepens
By | : |
Date | : | 08 February 2004 0307 hrs (SST)
URL | : | http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/70032/1/.html
GONAIVES, Haiti : Police streamed into this rebel-held city in Haiti to try to pry it out of the hands of rebels demanding the resignation of embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Police in about a dozen all-terrain vehicles started rumbling into Haiti's fourth-largest city, in the north of the impoverished Caribbean republic, at around 10:30 am local time (1730 GMT) "to protect the civilian population," Haiti's Communications Minister Mario Dupuy said, warning: "Those who are responsible will be punished." There was no immediate word on clashes, and rebels claimed they still held the city. Local correspondents said two people were wounded as police moved in. Rebels attacked the main police station in Gonaives on Thursday, in a battle that left at least 11 dead, according to the Haitian Red Cross. It was the most serious challenge yet to Aristide, who has faced a steadily mounting opposition campaign demanding that he leave office. Aristide supporters were expected to march, meanwhile, in the capital, Port-au-Prince, later Saturday to mark his third anniversary in office. Another police station in the city of Trou du Nord was taken over by armed men on Friday, local correspondents said. It was not immediately clear if the armed men were with the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front (RARF), which carried out the assault on Gonaives. Gonaives, a coastal city, has been hit since last September with sporadic anti-Aristide violence, in which some 53 people have been killed and 119 have been wounded. The symbolic significance of the fall of Gonaives is important in Haiti. It was there that Haiti's independence was proclaimed on January 1, 1804, and there that, in 1985, the fight against Jean-Claude Duvalier began, leading to the fall of his dictatorship in February 1986. And it poses a logistical nightmare for the government. Gonaives supplies essential goods, including gasoline, to the entire north of the country, including Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien. The US embassy in Port-au-Prince released a statement strongly condemning the violence. "The United States categorically rejects any violence used as a means to achieve political aims," said an embassy statement. It also reaffirmed support for efforts by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) group of nations to mediate the crisis, which has seen mounting demonstrations against Aristide in recent months. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has also expressed concern at the crisis. Aristide in theory has accepted some of the Caricom mediators' suggestions, including releasing jailed opponents, disarming pro-government irregular groups and guaranteeing the opposition the freedom to demonstrate. If Aristide does not follow through, he will lose Caricom political support and potentially face sanctions, a diplomatic source stressed privately. - AFP
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