Haitian Government Warns of Coup

The BBC ^ | February 9, 2004

[RWR8189]

Television pictures showed people looting from shipping containers

The prime minister of Haiti has accused opposition groups of trying to mount a coup, as unrest continues to spread.

Yvon Neptune said the opposition should play a role in stopping the violence and help the country to hold elections.

The latest clashes have occurred in the western town of St Marc, where rebels set the police station on fire.

There are reports of widespread looting around the port, with hundreds said to be stealing television sets and sacks of flour from shipping containers.

Civilians flee

Further north, police have withdrawn from the rebel-held city of Gonaives.

This violence is connected to a coup attempt Prime Minister Yvon Neptune In pictures: Haiti uprising

Most of the city's 20,000 inhabitants are also believed to have fled.

Police had been trying to regain control of Gonaives since guerrillas - who describe themselves as the Gonaives Resistance Front - seized control of it on Friday.

At least nine people are reported to have been killed in clashes in the city.

Communication lines are down but television pictures show corpses lying in the roads, with armed men roaming the streets.

The World Food Programme, which has its main food aid distribution point in Gonaives, has warned that the escalating violence is disrupting its efforts to combat malnutrition in Haiti.

A WFP spokesman, Alejandro Chicheri, told the BBC that more than 500,000 Haitians were facing serious food shortages.

Opposition fears

Opposition groups are calling for the president's resignation, saying he stole the 2000 election that returned him to power.

They also accuse him of corruption and human rights violations.

The mainstream opposition is trying to present itself as a viable alternative to Mr Aristide and does not back the uprising in Gonaives.

The BBC's Nick Caistor says they are concerned that groups such as those which took over Gonaives are little more than armed gangs without any defined political beliefs.

Prime Minister Neptune accused the rebels of trying to overthrow the government.

"This violence is connected to a coup attempt," he said in a television interview.

President Aristide has offered to hold parliamentary elections but insists he will serve out his second term in office, which ends in 2006.

[Consort]

"The Gonaives Resistance Front -- once called the Cannibal Army -- had been allied with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide but turned on him last year after their leader, Amiot Metayer, was found slain Sept. 22. The group blames Aristide."

[cyborg]

the monica fingers of clinton are all over the world

[gaijin]

Good thing we restored democracy there...!

[Elliott Jackalope]

If you get a chance, be sure to read the book "All the Trouble in The World" by P.J. O'Rourke. It has a whole chapter on Haiti, including a great summary of their political history. They've tried it all. Monarchy, Democracy, Republic, Socialism, Communism, Dictatorship, you name it they've had it. And none of the systems they've tried has worked. Not one.

Haiti is nothing less than a permanent and perpetual disaster area. Anything you try to do to help is a wasted effort. We really need to simply keep our distance, and let them work things out for themselves. Who knows, maybe they'll come up with some entirely new form of government or society that will actually work for them. Goodness knows everything the rest of the world has tried has not worked in Haiti. Let them sort it out on their own.

[gaijin]

I love P.J. O'Rourke! I especially liked, "Eat the Rich".