Rebels target Haiti's second-largest city

[DuctapeFatwa]

Frightened police barricaded themselves inside their station Wednesday and said they could not repel a threatened rebel attack on Haiti's second-largest city, the last major government bastion in the north. Officers in other towns deserted their posts with no guerrillas in sight.... There were fears that rebels have infiltrated the northern port and more were headed that way.

“We have machetes and guns, and we will resist,” carpenter Pierre Frandley said.

Even as police made clear they were too scared to patrol the streets of Cap-Haitien, militant defenders of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide vowed to take a stand against the 2-week-old rebellion,,,

Bush officials are privately discussing ideas for a possible constitutional succession before Mr. Aristide's term expires in February 2006...Haitian government spokesman Mario Dupuy called both options “unacceptable.” “They are tantamount to admitting the legitimacy of a coup d'état against the government,” he told The Associated Press.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040218.whaiti0218/BNStory/International/

[phoebe]

1. "rebels"? Don't you mean another US funded coup?

Aristide isn't playing ball and the US don't like it..same old same old. Those poor bastards in Haiti (and God.. I do mean POOR..)have been dealing with US interventions for some 4 decades or so.

[Suspicious]

2. How does Powell sleep at night?

Talk of Aristide giving up his Presidency? I think this latest from the State Department should serve as clear, irrefutable evidence of exactly what is happening in Haiti, right now, and who is supporting it. It stinks to high heaven.

Meanwhile, the starving in Haiti are still starving, blood is being spilled daily, and nothing is being done. Somebody needs to stand up and do the right thing.

What is apparent is that Washington must install a new Latin American policymaking team on an emergency basis. The group of ideologues now holding key positions in the policymaking process is incapable of bringing a peaceful resolution of Haiti’s present grave situation. Realizing the past ineffectiveness of the OAS’ leadership and political will on the Haitian issue, the United Nations should make the increasingly perilous situation in Haiti an item on its agenda and quickly decide, on an expedited basis, to dispatch a collective police force to the island consisting of units from Haiti’s fellow CARICOM countries, as well as France and Canada. Secretary Powell, at this late date, also should instruct the country’s opposition that it either must participate in the country’s electoral process by negotiating with the government on various processes spelled out by the CARICOM and OAS initiatives, or be considered irrelevant.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb04/Birns-Leight0218.htm