Haiti comes unglued:
Rebels in Haiti Seize City in North and Say Capital Is Next
By LYDIA POLGREEN
Published: February 22, 2004
CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti, Feb. 22 — Anti-government rebels today attacked this city, the government's last major stronghold in the north, and commandeered the police station inside the city, witnesses said. The rebels said they would be in the capital of Port-au-Prince on Monday.
In a convoy of 11 jeeps, about 200 soldiers armed with machine guns arrived in Cap-Haitien about 10 a.m., after leaving Gonaives about 3 a.m.
They met little resistance from the police or armed government supporters, according to Paulda Petime, a 23-year-old commander of the rebels.
In the square, hundreds of people shouted and cheered as the police headquarters was set ablaze. Looters made off with battered file cabinets, riot shields, bed frames and rolled up mattresses.
"We came here to liberate them," Mr. Petime said, referring to the crowds. He added that the people had helped the rebels. "I am really proud of all of the people of Cap-Haitien," he said.
Mr. Petime said rebels were massing elsewhere to move on Port-au-Prince. "We will be in the palace on Monday," he said, adding that they would demand the surrender of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "If he doesn't want to go to jail," Mr. Petime said of the president, "we're going to burn him."
Smoke billowed from the Cap-Haitien airport, where the station manager for Tropical Airways said a plane had been commandeered.
The station manager, Jacques Jeannot, said he had been trying to load passengers for a 10 a.m. flight to Port-au-Prince this morning. when seven men, two armed with AK-47's, entered the plane and demanded that the pilots take them to capital.
Among those on the plane, according to Mr. Jennot, was Richard Estemable, the leader of a pro-Aristide militant group.
"They just hijacked the plane," Mr. Jennot said.
In the disorder in Cap-Haitien, armed civilians broke into a prison, where they freed about 200 prisoners, said a witness, Odril Jean, who lives across the street from the facility.
Mr. Jean said he had seen about 10 armed men raid the prison. The freed prisoners picked up shotguns and pistols that had been abandoned by fleeing police officers and ran through the streets brandishing the weapons.
As a violent rebellion has spread throughout Haiti in the past two weeks, Cap-Haitien, the country's second-largest city, has remained in the hands of the government and its loyalists. But as the armed groups seeking to topple President Aristide have wrested control of a swath of territory from the coastal city of Gonives across the Central Plateau to the border with the Dominican Republic, they have vowed to bring their uprising to this city, as well.
In recent days, officers here had bolted themselves inside the walled compound of their police station, and had told reporters they had neither the firepower nor the numbers to repel the rebels, The Associated Press reported. They had turned over control of the streets to Aristide loyalists who have attacked opponents and set homes on fire, the wire service reported.
Heavy gunfire and small explosions sounded throughout the city today and rebel troops dressed in camouflage were spotted on the city's fringe. Employees at the airport reported gunfire starting about 9 a.m.
Witnesses reported that eight people had been killed in fighting today, though it was unclear whether the casualties were among rebel troops, government loyalists or civilians. The uprising has killed about 60 people, about two-thirds of them police.
Rebels were seen arriving at the police station, and by early afternoon, a column of gray and black smoke spiraled upward from the compound. Rebels have targeted police stations in the rebellion, which began on Feb. 5.
As the incursion here continued, residents ran through the streets, though it was hard to tell whether they were acting in jubilation or panic.
Government loyalists, responding to rumors of rebel plans to launch an offensive today, had erected barricades across the main roads into the city but had presumably failed in their attempt to ward off the invaders.
The city's mayor, Wilmar Innocent, acknowledged on Saturday the rumors of a rebel attack but said it would be nearly impossible because there are only two roads leading into the city.
For days, the city has been tense and sometimes violent. A Haitian radio journalist, Elie Sem Pierre, 40, was shot in the neck on Saturday by attackers he claimed were supporters of Mr. Aristide. He received surgery and survived the attack. His station, Radio Metropole, is a popular radio station based in Port au Prince and is perceived by the government as hostile.
The attack here came a day after the top American diplomat for the Western Hemisphere left Haiti without reaching a deal with the political opposition to share power with President Aristide.
Assistant Secretary of State Roger F. Noriega and other top diplomats from the Americas and Europe spent Saturday pushing an urgent proposal to replace the current government with a multiparty cabinet, while allowing Mr. Aristide to complete his term in office.
But despite hours of hard negotiating, the opposition refused to budge, insisting that Mr. Aristide must resign immediately.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting to this article from New York. |
