Disarmament deadline passes without progress in Haiti

AP
Thursday, September 16, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A disarmament deadline passed without progress yesterday as Haiti's US-backed government faced a looming power struggle with rebels unwilling to surrender control since they ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February.

Haitian police and government officials set the deadline in July for the rebels, former soldiers and Aristide supporters to disarm by Sept 15 without facing arrest.

The deadline, however, disintegrated with a loosely worded accord signed over the weekend that called for more dialogue. The rebels, which include former soldiers who overthrew Aristide the first time in a 1991 coup, have grown more vocal in their demands.

...

"We cannot hand over our arms, and I think the government understands that," said Remissainthe Ravix, a former colonel in Haitian army who is commanding the rebels, some of whom have taken over a police station in the southern city of Petit Goave.
There was no explanation from the Haitian government on the apparent backtrack. The deadline set in a letter dated July 8 was signed by interim prime minister Gerard Latortue.

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Bands of rebels and former soldiers launched a three-week rebellion in February that ended with the ouster of Aristide on Feb 29 and the arrival of a US-led peacekeeping force, which has since been replaced by a 3,000-member UN force led by Brazilian troops.
When the US-led force ended its mission in June, it collected about 200 weapons. UN troops have not confiscated any weapons, said Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, a UN spokesman.

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more
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20040915T190000-0500_66080_OBS_DISARMAMENT_DEADLINE_PASSES_WITHOUT_PROGRESS_IN_HAITI.asp

Wednesday 15 September @ 15:28:00
by Lydia Howell

...

As George W. Bush campaigns for re-election on “moving Iraq towards democracy,” Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) has sponsored a bill calling for an investigation into the U.S. government’s role in the February coup against Aristide and his Lavalas Party government.
“All evidence brought forward thus far suggests the Bush Administration carried out a form of regime change,” Lee told the Associated Press, describing her bill H.R. 3919 TRUTH (The Responsibility to Uncover Truth about Haiti). Forty-nine members of Congress, including Minnesota’s Rep. Betty McCollum (DFL-St. Paul), have signed on.

“Ten years of dedicated effort to build a legal and democratic system has been wiped out,” says Miller. “The people back in power are thugs who threw out a democratic leader, putting in guys convicted of murder ...The U.S. can dictate who calls the shots.”

...

In press conferences, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed Aristide was offered “safe passage” out of Haiti, repeatedly referring to his “resignation letter.” But 48 hours after being taken by American military to an undisclosed location, Aristide told Pacifica Radio’s Amy Goodman on March 2 that what happened was a “modern-day coup by kidnapping.”
On the eve of the coup, the United States and France vetoed Aristide’s request to the United Nations’ Security Council for a small peacekeeping force. Once Aristide was out of the country, 2,000 U.S. Marines arrived, similar to the landing that began the U.S. occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934. They were joined by 1,000 French troops, returning to their former colony; Haiti was created when African slaves rose up and defeated Napoleon’s army exactly 200 years ago.

....

“We documented international military forces—including U.S. troops—are not operating to protect human rights or restore democracy.” Nestor emphasized. “U.S. troops are only in communication with the armed rebels. Their purpose is to consolidate the coup. Mayors are in hiding—none resigned! Part of the purpose is dispossession of all leadership, replacing them with leadership acceptable to the U.S. and local elites.”

Dick Bernard of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers—the organization hosting Karshan—communicates with human rights activists in Haiti regularly. He said that a phone call this week from pro-democracy activists in hiding reported, “conditions are worse than after the coup six months ago.” Bernard continued, “Reading about Iraq daily and getting emails from Haiti, I see lots of similarities in the treatment of both countries’ people by the United States.”

more
http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1342