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Haiti siege claims more lives

by alj
Violence is continuing in Haiti with anti-government rebels saying they have killed 14 policemen in fresh fighting for control of the city of Gonaives.

Police were sent into the northern city two days after the rebels attacked the main police station in a battle which left 11 dead.

"It is with sorrow that we announce 14 dead among the police," rebel leader Etienne Winter told Haitian radio stations on Saturday.

He said his group had left the police station but still controlled Gonaives. There was however no official toll.

The city of about 200,000 people, the fourth largest in the Caribbean republic, was virtually deserted when the police reinforcements arrived.

Rebel claim

Winter announced the area around Gonaives had been declared "an independent zone."

"We are going to liberate other districts in the region," he added.

Another police station in nearby Trou du Nord was taken over by armed men on Friday. Homes of supporters of the Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide were also attacked.

Haiti in recent months has been swept by political turmoil with opponents of Aristide calling for his resignation.

There has been violence between opponents and supporters of Aristide in Gonaives since September, which has left more than 60 people dead.

The siege at Gonaives is however the most serious challenge to the president till date.

Meanwhile, Aristide has vowed that those responsible for the siege "will be arrested and judged according to law."

He also said he would stay on until his current term ends in 2006

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E7A2267A-D23C-4B41-A0AD-0A3731E9C93E.htm
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by more info
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Rebels say they have killed 14 policemen in a shootout with the authorities who tried to retake control of Haiti's fourth largest city from an anti-government group, the rebels told local radio stations.

Journalists at the scene said the firefight erupted when a police caravan tried to enter Gonaives to take it back from an armed band that took control of the city on Friday and is demanding that embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide quit.

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http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=454213§ion=news
§more info
by more info
A February 5, 2004 New York Times editorial declared Jean-Bertrand Aristide's second presidency "is declining into despotism." Reporting from the land of Supreme Court-decided elections, the Times (fresh off suggesting Sharpton and Kucinich go away quietly) laughingly offered this solution to the people of Haiti: "make sure that the next presidential election, due late next year, is fair and on time."

At the core of this helpful advice are "student" protests. Much like US-backed Venezuelan opposition commandeering the label of "unions," those seeking to oust Aristede are cleverly calling themselves "students." Haitian opposition, says Richard Dufour of the World Socialist Website, "comprises most of the business establishment, remnants of the political machine of the Duvalier dictatorship, and disgruntled Aristide supporters." Misinformation reigns.

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http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb04/MickeyZ0207.htm
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